OAysters: Acidification effects on susceptibility of Crassostrea gigas larvae to infection by Vibrio tubiashii

Abstract

In recent years, the oyster Crassostrea gigas has been subject to recurrent outbreaks of vibriosis. The bacteria Vibrio tubiashii induces acute mortality in the veliger larval stage, with severe repercussions for aquaculture and recruitment. The disease is known to be correlated with environmental factors such as temperature and salinity. In our study, we sought to examine the relationship between a rapidly changing environmental factor, ocean acidification, and pathogenicity using a series of larval inoculations at two different carbon dioxide concentration, bacterial strains, larval ages, and bacterial dilutions. Our results of mortality and LD50 indicate that some strains of V. tubiashii may be less pathogenic under acidified conditions and these findings warrant more investigation.