First report of Streptococcus parauberis in a cultured freshwater ornamental fish, the ram cichlid Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (Myers & Harry, 1948)

Abstract

First paragraph: Since the first report of an outbreak of a streptococcal infection in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Japan in 1958 (Hoshina, Sano, & Morimoto,1958), streptococcosis has been responsible for significant mortalities resulting in considerable losses to the aquaculture industry (Noga,2010; Salati,2006). Numerous species from the family Streptococcaceae have been identified as aetiological agents of streptococcosis in fish (Noga,2010; Salati,2006; Toranzo, Magariños, & Romalde,2005), susceptibility to which was documented in both food (Inglis, Roberts, & Bromage,1993) and ornamental fish species (Russo, Mitchell, & Yanong,2006).Streptococcus parauberisis a coccoid, non-motile, alpha-haemolytic Gram-positive bacterium belonging to theStreptococcaceafamily (Nho etal.,2011) and has been reported as the aetiological agent of streptococcosis in a few fish species, including turbot (Scophthalmus maximus), olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), sea bass (Sebastes ventricosus) and striped bass (Morone saxatilis) (Baeck, Kim, Gomez, & Park,2006; Domeénech etal.,1996; Haines etal.,2013; Mata etal.,2004; Oguro etal.,2014; Park etal.,2009).Streptococcus parauberishas been previously identified as the aetiological agent of bovine mastitis (Bradley,2002). It was formerly known asStreptococcustype II until comparative analysis of the sequence data ofStreptococcus uberistypes I and II showed that both were phylogenetically distinct, and the new speciesS.parauberiswas proposed (Williams and Collins1990).