Stress and Body Condition in a Population of Largemouth Bass: Implications for Red-Sore Disease

The body conditions, K = 105(weight, g) ÷ (standard length)3, and various hematological characters were examined for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) taken from Par Pond, a reservoir heated by effluent from a nuclear production reactor at the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina. Largemouth bass with K less than 2.0 had significantly lower (P < 0.05) hematocrits, hemoglobin concentrations, total red blood cell counts, total white blood cell counts, and lymphocyte fractions, and significantly higher granulocyte fractions and cortisol concentrations, than those with K greater than 2.0; monocyte, thrombocyte, and reticulocyte fractions were not different between the two K-factor groupings. When data were pooled, all blood variables except the reticulocyte fraction were significantly correlated with K. Hematocrit, the lymphocyte fraction, and cortisol concentration account for 20.5% of the variation in K. These data support a previous hypothesis that elevated water temperature promotes stress. Stress within the Par Pond largemouth bass population may play an impotant role in the epizootiology of red-sore disease caused by the gram-negative bacterium, Aeromonas hydrophila.