Pauline Keyes reported a dead moray on 5 August, 2009, and since then, I have had 3 other equally-reputable observers report dead morays, all in the proximity of Bari Reef. Please be diligent in your reporting and inform on this post if you see any acting sick or dead, and report date, species, and dive site with photos if available

Jerry,

At the time of the last die-off I noted the northbound effluent from the marina or the coast south of the marina.

Has this possibility of some factor from that area been factored into the diagnosis of the eel die-offs?

Was there a definitive answer to last summer's problem?

Glen, there was a definitive answer to last summer's problem. CIEE published a report (it's somewhere here on BT). It was a viral or bacterial infection (don't remember which) that only affects eels, thus no other fish died due to the infection.

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quote:

Glen, there was a definitive answer to last summer's problem

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Tink,

I suspect you are referring to the report in Physis, the CIEE journal, Vol. 4 Fall 2008, by Kara Kozak. It concludes that the agent is 'likely' known but says that confirmation from lab results is needed for surety. I have not seen the lab results reported so my question to JL. I would love a link to same.

The link to the Physis article is http://www.cieebonaire.org/physis.html .

Eddie, no.

Glen, It will take me a while to find the link. The eel die off ended shortly after Omar. They speculated that Omar washed the virus away....

It was the Vibrio vulnificus, serovar E virus...only affecting eels. let me see if I can find more before I head to the donut shop.

Scroll to page 7.

http://www.cieebonaire.org/downloads/Physis%20Vol%204.pdf

Minor point - Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium, not a virus.
V. vulnificus is a part of the "normal flora" of the marine environment (at least some serovars are). Some strains are fairly common human pathogens, too, and can cause severe illness after eating raw oysters.
I agree with Glen. The nice paper by Kozak presents a hypothesis that V. vulnificus serovar E might be the culprit for the 2008 eel die-off, but falls well short of proving causality.

Here is a report, albeit, preliminary still, from Dr. Williams, from Puerto Rico, who is one of the fish disease experts in the Caribbean, on what is know thus far on our eel mortality last summer:

As I mentioned previously in my report, I believe we know the disease agent and the cause of the mortalities. The disease agent appears to be a new species of Hexamita; however, this must be confirmed with EM examinations because this genus is very similar to Spironucleus, which usually occurs in marine fishes. We believe that the outbreaks are triggered by elevated seawater temperatures, but we cannot test this until we know the dates and locations of the other events.

I have had a few problems using the EM scope here. The university is broke and it has been difficult to get anyone to do anything.

Al Debrot has found similar mortalities on other islands and I found a record of one on Barbados. I need to try and correlate the times and locations of the outbreaks with seawater temperature records at NOAA.

I have to wait for his data to write up a paper with everyone discussing the mortalities. As soon as I can get this together, I will send a copy to everyone.

I have also been trying to get an expert in the group of protozoans interested in the taxonomic problem, but so far, with little success.

NOAA is predicting high seawater temperatures this year. It would be nice to have more samples, samples from additional species of eels, and samples from fishes other than eels. Also, temperature records would be useful [although the temperature insult usually occurs before the fishes begin dying]. If another mass mortality begins, I would be willing to come down again.

Please send me the species of fishes dying, dates, and localities for the four new mortalities.

Have you seen any dead large, heart urchins? These were reported dying in Barbados at the time of their moray eel mortalities. I saw recently dead [rotting material inside tests] large heart urchins in Bonaire last fall when I was there to look at morays. I did not think much about it until I saw the Barbados report.

I hope this information is of use and I hope you do not suffer another mass mortality.

Bert


Again, anyone finding dead or sick morays or other fish, or heart urchins, please report to this forum the following: Species of animal, (photos as well) Dive site, and Date.

TKS, Jerry.

Do you want to know locations closely enough, and in time, to attempt recovery of the animals for analysis? Should divers bring them in??

Very interesting posting Jerry. If I read this correctly the infectious agent is triggered by elevated seawater temps.

I dove Bonaire last Aug & I remember the water was extremely warm, so this does make sense to me. I just came back last week after diving for 2 weeks & was quite pleased to discover the temps were not anything like they were Aug. 2008. Additionally, this year we experienced many cold water upswells from the depths sometimes as shallow as 40 feet (which I have not personally experienced before). So hopefully it will not be a problem & this infectious agent will not be triggered.

I have extensive temperature readings. Who wants them?