Volume 53

Factors Contributing to the 1999 Mass Mortality of Reef-Associated Fish in Barbados


Authors
Willoughby, S.; Parker, C.; Hunte, W.; St. John, V.S.; Roach, C.J.; Ferguson, H.
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Other Information


Date: 2002


Pages: 26-37


Event: Proceedings of the Fifty Third Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute


City: Fort Pierce, Florida


Country: USA

Abstract

During the period August to November 1999, mass mortalities of several species of reef-associated fish were reported at a number of islands in the southem Caribbean, including Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Histopathological and bacteriological studies conducted in Barbados revealed that the fish died from severe disseminated bacteraemic disease caused by the pathogen Streptococcus iniae which had not previously been reported in the marine environment in the southem Caribbean. Analysis of satellite imagery indicated that a plume of water originating in the region of the Orinoco River, and characterised by high chlorophyll concentrations and low noctumal oxygen levels, impacted on Barbados and the neighbouring islands at the time of the fish kill. It is suggested here that several atypical environmental conditions, including elevated sea water temperature, high phytoplankton concentration and reduced oxygen levels worked in concert to stress the fish and increase their susceptibility to S. iniae.

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