Variola Louti Research Articles

加計呂麻島における魚類食中毒シガテラの発生

In this paper we report two incidents of ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) that occurred in 2008 on Kakeroma Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. A family consisting of father (42 y.o.), mother (39 y.o.), daughter (11 y.o.) and son (6 y.o.), as well as a friend of the family (male, 78 y.o.) consumed sliced flesh (sashimi) and developed typical symptoms of CPF 4-5 h later: diarrhea, vomiting, and paresthesia of the extremities. Additionally, the two male adults (42 and 78 y.o.) developed mild hypotention (84/48 and 94/40 mmHg, respectively) and bradycardia (36 and 50 bpm, respectively) and were rushed to the ER of the nearest hospital, located on an adjacent island. The implicated fish were caught together off the west coast of the island and were identified as Variola louti and Lutjanus monostigma based on analysis of 16S rRNA gene coded on mtDNA. Remnants of the implicated fish and other fish caught on the same occasion were examined by the official mouse bioassay method (MBA), which defines the minimum amount of CFP toxin needed to kill a male mouse of ddY strain of 20 g body weight within 24 h as one mouse unit (MU). A significantly high toxicity was detected in the V. louti (0.2 MU/g) eaten by the family and the L. monostigma (0.8 MU/g) eaten by the elderly man. Other specimens of Lethrinus nebulosus, Variola albimarginata, Lutjanus gibbus (2 specimens), Aphareus rutilans, and Sphyraena forsteri (2 specimens) were found to be nontoxic (< 0.025 MU/g). The medical records regarding island inhabitants (ca. 1,500) kept at Kakeroma Tokushukai Clinic, the only medical facility on the Island, and also at Setouchi Tokushukai Hospital, a nearest hospital on an adjacent island (Amami) revealed 6 CFP outbreaks involving 13 cases between 2005 and 2008. The estimated frequency of CFP was 10.0 incidents/10,000 persons/year and the morbidity rate was 21.7 cases/10,000 persons/year. The symptoms and signs observed in the patients and the implicated fish species, L. monostigma and V. louti, were typical of CFP in this region.

Declining catch rates of reef fish in Aldabra's marine protected area

1. Fish landings from a small-scale subsistence fishery at Aldabra, Seychelles, were monitored from late 1995 to early 2007 to describe the predominant species caught, catch per unit effort (CPUE) and patterns in yield over time. 2. During this period a total of 19.5 tons of piscivores were caught, varying between 0.99 and 2.46 tons per annum. Effort data allowing for estimation of CPUE were available for 259 fishing trips and from 1998 onwards. 3. Over the study period, and in order of importance, Lutjanus bohar, Variola louti, Lethrinus nebulosus, Epinephelus multinotatus and Epinephelus polyphekadion made up over 80% of the total catch in terms of biomass. Using a general linear model, including fishing location and season as predictor variables, it was shown that CPUE declined significantly over the study period. Annual CPUE varied between 3.0 and 5.1 kg h -1 per person. 4. Throughout the period fishing pressure was low, and largely limited to the subsistence fishery. It is argued that changing catch rates are likely to have been independent of direct anthropogenic influences but a result of reef degradation following the 1998 bleaching event.

Prosorhynchine trematodes (Digenea: Bucephalidae) from epinephelines (Perciformes: Serranidae) on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Six new species of bucephalid trematodes from the prosorhynchine bucephalid genera Prosorhynchus Odhner, 1905 and Neidhartia Nagaty, 1937 are reported from the epinepheline genera Cephalopholis, Cromileptes, Epinephelus and Variola on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Two species of Prosorhynchus and one of Neidhartia are reported from Epinephelus spp., P. jexi n. sp. from E. quoyanus, P. lafii n. sp. from E. fuscoguttatus and N. epinepheli n. sp. from E. maculatus. The other three new species are P. robertsthomsoni n. sp. from Cephalopholis argus, C. cyanostigma and C. miniata, P. conorjonesi n. sp. from Cromileptes altivelis, and P. milleri n. sp. from Variola louti. Extensive examinations of other piscivorous fish species from the Great Barrier Reef have not revealed these six bucephalid species, which appear to be restricted at least to the host genera from which they are reported here.

Molecular phylogenetic relationship of Epinephelus based on sequences of mtDNA Cty b

The mtDNA Cyt b gene was sequenced partially for Variola louti of Serranidae, Epinephelinae and seven endemic species of groupers—Epinephelus awoara, E. brunneus, E. coioides, E. longispinis, E. sexfasciatus, E. spilotoceps and E. tauvina in China. The seven endemic species and other seven foreign species of groupers—E. aeneus, E. caninus, E. drummondhayi, E. haifensis, E. labriformis, E. marginatus and E. multinotatus from the GenBank were combined and analysed as ingroup, while Variola louti was used as outgroup. We compared the 420 bp sequences of Cyt b among the 15 species and constructed two types of molecular phylogenetic trees with maximum parsimony method (MP) and neighbor-joining method (NJ) respectively. The results were as follows: (1) As to the base composition of mtDNA Cyt b sequence (402 bp) of 14 species of Epinephelus, the content of (A + T) was 53.6%, higher than that of (G + C) (46.4%). The transition/transversion ratio was 4.78 with no mutation saturation. (2) The cluster relationships between E. awoara and E. sexfasciatus, E. coioides and E. tauvina, E. longispinis and E. spilotoceps were consistent with phenotypes in taxonomy. (3) In the phylogenetic tree, the species in the Atlantic Ocean were associated closely with those in the Pacific Ocean, which suggested that the Cyt b sequences of Epinephelus were highly conserved. This may be attributed to the coordinate evolution. (4) In wel1-bred mating or heredity management, mating Epinephelus of the same branch should be avoided. It is likely to be an effective way to mate the species of the Atlantic Ocean with those of the Pacific Ocean to improve the inheritance species.

Pseudopycnadena tendu sp. nov. (Digenea, Opecoelidae) in the yellow-spotted triggerfish Pseudobalistes fuscus (Perciformes, Balistidae) and additional opecoelids parasitizing fishes from the waters off New Caledonia

AbstractPseudopycnadena tendu sp. nov. is described from the balistid Pseudobalistes fuscus from the waters off New Caledonia. It differs from the only other member of the genus P. fischthali Saad-Fares et Maillard, 1986, in its broad cirrus-sac, with the wide field of large gland-cells, its less nearly circular body shape, its dorsal excretory pore, its shorter post-testicular region, its relatively larger ventral sucker and its smaller eggs. The genus is re-defined to take these distinctions into account. Other opecoelid species reported from New Caledonia are Allopodocotyle epinepheli (Yamaguti, 1942) from Epinephelus cyanopodus, E. fasciatus and E. merra, Cainocreadium epinepheli (Yamaguti, 1934) from E. coeruleopunctatus, E. fasciatus and Variola louti, Hamacreadium mutabile (Linton, 1910) from Lutjanus fulviflamma and L. kasmira, Helicometra epinepheli Yamaguti, 1934 from E. fasciatus and E. merra, Orthodena tropica Durio et Manter, 1968 from Lethrinus lentjan, Pacificreadium serrani (Nagaty et Abdel-Aal, 1962) from Plectropomus leopardus and Pseudoplagioporus interruptus Durio et Manter, 1968 from Lethrinus rubrioperculatus.

Reidentification of Seven Tropical Pacific Fishes Collected and Observed by the Forsters during the Voyage of HMS Resolution, 1772-75

A catalog prepared by A. Wheeler of the 95 paintings and drawings of fishes made by George Forster during Captain James Cook's second voyage around the world in HMS Resolution (1772-75) related them to early publications dealing with these illustrations and to the current accepted scientific names of fishes. Additional information on seven of these fishes from tropical Pacific localities, some represented by Forster drawings, has enabled us to alter the names used by Wheeler: Albula vulpes = Albula glossodonta; Callechelys catastomus is the senior synonym of C. melanotaenia; Cephalopholis urodelus = C. urodeta; ?Variola louti = Ephinephelus irroratus; Sciaena mugil (Species inquirendae) = Kuhlia mugil, a senior synonym of K. taeniura; Lethrinus miniatus is the senior synonym of L. chrysostomus, and the long-nosed Lethrinus most authors have identified as L. miniatus is now L. olivaceus; and Alticus saliens = Andamia amphibius.

琉球および奄美諸島におけるシガテラ

1. Frequent outbreaks of ciguatera poisonings in the Ryukyu and Amami Islands were disclosed, and 99 case histories were collected and analyzed. 2. Among about 20 species of fishes reported to be toxic, the followings were found to be the most frequently implicated: Lutjanus bohar, L. monostigma, Gymnothorax spp., Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, and Variola louti. Symptoms induced by these fishes were similar to each other and characterized by aching joints, languor, dry-ice sensation, diarrhea, and vomiting. 3. A rabbitfish, Sigamis fuscescens, was reported to cause itching and headache in a short period after a heavy rainfall in June. 4. Besides fish poisoning outbreaks of poisoning due to ingestion of toxic turtles and coconut crabs were confirmed.