S.O.S. Pinna nobilis: a mass mortality event in western Mediterranean sea

A mass mortality event (MME) impacting the bivalve Pinna nobilis was detected across a wide geographical area of the Spanish Mediterranean Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea) in early autumn 2016. Underwater visual censuses were conducted across several localities separated by hundreds of kilometers along the Spanish Mediterranean coasts and revealed worrying high mortality rates reaching up …

First haplosporidan parasite reported infecting a member of the Superfamily Pinnoidea (Pinna nobilis) during a mortality event in Alicante (Spain, Western Mediterranean)

Several stages of a haplosporidan parasite, including spores, were detected infecting three out of four specimens of the Pen Shell Pinna nobilis from the coast of Alicante (Western Mediterranean). A mortality event initiated few weeks before the sampling. The infection was systemic in the connective tissue, with free uni-nucleate stages and early plasmodia, whereas sporulation …

Diagnosis and Control of Diseases of Fish and Shellfish

There has been a continual expansion in aquaculture, such that total production is fast approaching that of wild-caught fisheries. Yet the expansion is marred by continued problems of disease. New pathogens emerge, and others become associated with new conditions. Some of these pathogens become well established, and develop into major killers of aquatic species. Diagnosis …

Ancient DNA analysis identifies marine mollusc shells as new metagenomic archives of the past

Marine mollusc shells enclose a wealth of information on coastal organisms and their environment. Their life history traits as well as (palaeo-) environmental conditions, including temperature, food availability, salinity and pollution, can be traced through the analysis of their shell (micro-) structure and biogeochemical composition. Adding to this list, the DNA entrapped in shell carbonate …