Isolation of Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio splendidus from aquacultured carpet shell clam (Ruditapes decussatus) larvae associated with mass mortalities.

Two episodes of mortality of cultured carpet shell clams (Ruditapes decussatus) associated with bacterial infections were recorded during 2001 and 2002 in a commercial hatchery located in Spain. Vibrio alginolyticus was isolated as the primary organism from moribund clam larvae that were obtained during the two separate events. Vibrio splendidus biovar II, in addition to V. alginolyticus, was isolated as a result of a mixed Vibrio infection from moribund clam larvae obtained from the second mortality event. The larval mortality rates for these events were 62 and 73%, respectively. Mortality was also detected in spat. To our knowledge, this is the fist time that these bacterial species have been associated with larval and juvenile carpet shell clam mortality. The bacterial strains were identified by morphological and biochemical techniques and also by PCR and sequencing of a conserved region of the 16S rRNA gene. In both cases bacteria isolated in pure culture were inoculated into spat of carpet shell clams by intravalvar injection and by immersion. The mortality was attributed to the inoculated strains, since the bacteria were obtained in pure culture from the soft tissues of experimentally infected clams. V. alginolyticus TA15 and V. splendidus biovar II strain TA2 caused similar histological lesions that affected mainly the mantle, the velum, and the connective tissue of infected organisms. The general enzymatic activity of both live cells and extracellular products (ECPs), as evaluated by the API ZYM system, revealed that whole bacterial cells showed greater enzymatic activity than ECPs and that the activity of most enzymes ceased after heat treatment (100 degrees C for 10 min). Both strain TA15 and strain TA2 produced hydroxamate siderophores, although the activity was greater in strain TA15. ECPs from both bacterial species at high concentrations, as well as viable bacteria, caused significant reductions in hemocyte survival after 4 h of incubation, whereas no significant differences in viability were observed during incubation with heat-killed bacteria.