Peracute vibriosis in juvenile turbot Scophthalmus maximus

An outbreak of an acute oedematous disease characterised by orbital and abdominal swelling, and high mortality, in young turbot, was studied. The clinical and pathological picture was consistent with a circulating toxaemia principally affecting the heart, orbit and kidney. Vibrio anguillarum , virtually identical with type strain NCMB6, was isolated in pure culture from all organs of all fish. Therapy was only marginally successful using antibiotics but in a small group subjected to temperature reduction below 10°C, losses were reduced from 20 % to 5 % compared with the controls.