A Shell Disease in Lobsters (Homarus americanus) Caused by Chitinovorous Bacteria

1937 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 358-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Hess

Chitinovorous bacteria have been isolated from lobsters (Homarus americanus) showing a peculiar shell disease. Cases are reported (1936) from ten widely separated localities in Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and Magdalen islands. A regular epidemic occurred in a lobster pound at Yarmouth, N.S. All isolated strains attack strips of purified chitin in Benecke's saline medium in a characteristic manner.

1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 2546-2550 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. O. Hammill ◽  
G. B. Stenson ◽  
R. A. Myers

Systematic visual aerial surveys were flown in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence during March 1990 and 1991 to estimate hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) pup production. In 1990, the main whelping patch, occupying an area of 264 km2, was located near Cape Breton Island. One hundred and five pups were counted on 17 transects, resulting in a mean density of 1.74 pups∙kim−2 and an estimated pup production of 1638 (SE = 466). In 1991, a large whelping patch was located to the west of the Magdalen Islands, a second off the coast of Prince Edward Island, and a small patch was later found south of the Magdalen Islands. The two major patches were surveyed, resulting in a pup production estimate of 1564 (SE = 101). During the 1991 surveys, an estimated 71–93% of the pups were on the ice. Correcting for the distribution of births results in a minimum 1991 pup production estimate of 2006 (SE = 190) for the Gulf of St. Lawrence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary J. Ranson ◽  
Jason LaPorte ◽  
Edward Spinard ◽  
Andrei Y. Chistoserdov ◽  
Marta Gomez-Chiarri ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Aquimarina sp. strain I32.4 (formerly Aquimarina sp. ‘ homaria ’) is a putative pathogen involved in epizootic shell disease in the American lobster ( Homarus americanus ). We report here the draft genome sequence for Aquimarina sp. strain I32.4 and describe virulence factors that may provide insight into its mechanism of pathogenicity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Catling ◽  
Donald F. McAlpine ◽  
Christopher I. G. Adam ◽  
Gilles Belliveau ◽  
Denis Doucet ◽  
...  

Chortophaga viridifasciata, Forficula auricularia, Melanoplus stonei, Scudderia furcata furcata, Scudderia pistillata, and Trimerotropis verruculata from Prince Edward Island and Doru taeniatum, Melanoplus punctulatus, Orchelimum gladiator, and Spharagemon bolli from New Brunswick are new provincial records. Other records of interest include the endemic Melanoplus madeleineae from Île d’Entrée in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec; Trimerotropis verruculata from the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec; and Chortophaga viridifasciata, Stethophyma lineatum, and Tetrix subulata, new for Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The ranges of Conocephalus brevipennis, Tetrix arenosa angusta, Tetrix ornata, and Tetrix subulata are significantly extended in New Brunswick. A previously unpublished record from 2003 of Roeseliana roeselii (Metrioptera roeselii) is the earliest report of this European introduction to the Maritimes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher G. Majka ◽  
Yves Bousquet ◽  
Christine Noronha ◽  
Mary E. Smith

AbstractFourteen species of Carabidae are added to Prince Edward Island’s (P.E.I.) faunal list, bringing the known fauna to 167 species. Bembidion nitidum (Kirby) and Bembidion obtusum Audinet-Serville are newly recorded for the Maritime Provinces. Six species are removed from P.E.I.’s faunal list. The history of collecting of Carabidae on P.E.I. is briefly recounted. Despite differences in land area and distance from the mainland between P.E.I., Cape Breton Island, and insular Newfoundland, their carabid faunas exhibit many similarities in size and composition. The native carabid fauna of P.E.I. comprises 49% of the species in the combined Maritime Provinces fauna, perhaps reflecting an island-related diminution of species diversity. The proportion of flightless species on P.E.I. (4.9%) is less than that in the Maritime Provinces as a whole (7.1%), an apparent indication that the Northumberland Strait has been a barrier to colonization. Twenty-seven introduced species are found on P.E.I., 26 of which can be classified as synanthropic and may have originated in dry-ballast quarries in southwestern England. Although the earliest dates of detection of many introduced species on P.E.I. are substantially later than elsewhere in the Maritimes, this reflects the paucity of early collecting. Land-management practices on P.E.I. (large-scale and early forest clearances, intensive agriculture, and the extensive use of biocides) may have had an impact on P.E.I.’s carabid fauna.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1551-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori A Cook ◽  
Sonya A Dehler ◽  
Sandra M Barr

A prominent positive magnetic anomaly spans the 100 km distance between Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The anomaly occurs in an area of complex structure where Appalachian terrane boundaries are poorly resolved because of thick late Paleozoic sedimentary cover. Analysis of the magnetic anomaly led to the interpretation that it is produced by four separate, approximately circular, source bodies aligned along the northwesterly trend of the anomaly. Seismic data, physical property measurements, and magnetic and gravity anomalies were used to further investigate the anomaly sources through forward modeling techniques. The four source bodies have densities and magnetic susceptibilities compatible with dioritic to granitic compositions. Modeling also suggests that basement to the north of the plutons has higher density and susceptibility than basement to the south, and hence the source bodies are interpreted as plutons emplaced along the boundary between Ganderian composite terranes to the north and the Ganderian Brookville – Bras d’Or terrane to the south. This interpretation suggests that the Ganderia–Avalonia boundary is located farther south, and shows the need for re-evaluation of the location and role of the Canso fault in offsetting terranes between Cape Breton Island and southern New Brunswick.


2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 808-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Tlusty ◽  
Anita Kim ◽  
Kathleen M. Castro

The emergence of epizootic shell disease in American lobsters (Homarus americanus) has presented many new challenges to understanding the interface between disease and the management of the lobster fishery. While a variety of the potentially causative and correlative factors for shell disease have been explored, a clear etiological agent remains elusive. The recency of this disease and the lack of identifiable causal agents have hindered the development of conceptual models that can yield testable predictions. Here, a model originally developed for human–parasite interactions was applied to lobster shell disease as a means to unify the broad experimental and field observations. The model is a graphical means to understand the onset and severity of shell disease and is a function of the length of the molt cycle and the rate of the decrease of health both before and after lesion formation as a function of bacterial abundance and pathogenicity. The model also accounts for shell hardening and passive and active portals of entry for the bacteria. The timing for a conceptual understanding of the epidemiology of shell disease is critical because its prevalence is increasing in key fishing areas. Ideally, such a model will help researchers create hypothesis-driven predictive experiments from which we can further our understanding of an important disease to a critical member of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.


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