Complex etiologies of emerging diseases in lobsters (Homarus americanus) from Long Island Sound

• Published in: Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences Vol. 70; no. 11; pp. 1576 - 1587
• Main Author: SHIELDS, Jeffrey D
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa, ON National Research Council of Canada 01.11.2013; NRC Research Press; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: American lobster; Animal diseases; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Anthropogenic factors; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Canada; Communicable diseases in animals; Crustaceans; Destratification; Diseases; Environmental aspects; Environmental stress; Eutrophication; Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.); Fisheries; Fishery management; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Homarus americanus; Hypoxia; Marine; Mortality; Neoparamoeba pemaquidensis; Pesticides; Seafood; Stress; Survival analysis; Long Island Sound; Atlantic Ocean; North Atlantic; Canada; ANW, USA, Long Island Sound; Crustacea; Homarus americanus; Lobster; Disease; Etiology; Arthropoda; Decapoda; Invertebrata; Macrura
• ISSN: 0706-652X; 1205-7533
• DOI: 10.1139/cjfas-2013-0050

Several diseases have recently emerged in lobsters (Homarus americanus) from Long Island Sound (LIS). Various stressors have been implicated as contributory factors, including increased bottom temperatures, extensive eutrophication with commensurate hypoxia, storm-induced thermal destratification, possible exposures to pesticides and metals, and fishery-induced stressors. Such stressors increase host susceptibility by weakening the host immune defenses and act to increase the transmission and severity of pathogens. The lobster mortality in western LIS in 1999 was linked to Neoparamoeba pemaquidensis, but a complex of stressors resulted in outright mortality from hypoxia or consequent immune suppression that increased susceptibility to the ameba. Similar stressors have been implicated in the etiology of epizootic shell disease and calcinosis. The role of environmental stressors has been hard to delineate, but recent declines in landings indicate that epizootic shell disease has had a negative impact on the lobster population in LIS. Calcinosis, blindness, and hepatopancreatitis are indicators of continued exposure to anthropogenic stressors, but their etiologies remain undetermined. More research is needed to understand emerging diseases, their complex etiologies, and their effects on the lobster population.