Baseline pathological data of the wedge clam Donax trunculus from the Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Basin).

Abstract

In recent years, a collapse in Donax trunculus fishing yields has occurred in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Basin). There is little information available on the impact disease may have had on D. trunculus populations. For the first time, a pathological survey was performed on the natural beds of the bivalve on the Campania and Lazio coasts, western Italy. Detected pathogens and related diseases were analysed, and their prevalence and mean intensity values were calculated. Viral particles, Chlamydia-like organisms, ciliates, coccidians, microcells and trematodes were observed. An unknown ciliate was linked to severe inflammatory and necrotic lesions in the digestive gland. Metacercariae of the trematode Postmonorchis sp. were also strongly represented in almost all samples, reaching high levels of infection; however, none of the pathogens described required the World Organisation for Animal Health to be notified. Initial results indicated that further surveys related to environmental data are necessary in order to assess the relevance of these early observations in managing the declining D. trunculus population in the Tyrrhenian Sea.