Infections of a population of Crassostrea gigas by the copepod Mytilicola orientalis were examined at an oyster growing site at Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland. Twenty-one samples, each consisting of 20 to 30 oysters have been examined over 2 yr. Condition, sex, reproductive stage, length, weight, glycogen content and other parasite burdens of the oysters were examined in relation to the d...

The Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), originally from East Asia, has been the main species of oyster farmed in Europe since the early 20 century. Populations were heavily hit by disease in the 1960s and 1970s and thousands of tons of Pacific oysters from Canada and Japan were subsequently imported to replenish French farm stocks. However, a number of other species inadvertently arrived with t...

Studies have shown that pesticides are sometimes detected at rather high levels in seawater and it has been suggested that these chemical compounds could act as additional stress factor for oysters cultured in coastal environments. The effects of pesticides on marine molluscs could be particularly harmful in the early stages which correspond to critical life stages. This study aimed to assess t...

Herpes- and herpes-like viruses are known to infect a wide range of bivalve mollusc species throughout the world. Abnormal summer mortalities associated to the detection of ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) have been currently reported in France among larvae and spat of the Pacific cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas. In the present work, we have developed an experimental protocol of horizontal transm...

To develop sensitive detection techniques with the aim of elucidating the life cycle of Marteilioides chungmuensis, an intracellular paramyxean infecting the ovary of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, we isolated the parasite at the sporont stage from infected oysters using a freeze-thaw procedure at -20 degrees C and differential centrifugations in discontinuous sucrose and Percoll gradien...

Vibrio splendidus LGP32 is an oyster pathogen associated with the summer mortality syndrome that dramatically affects the production of Crassostrea gigas oysters worldwide (Gay et al., 2004; Saulnier et al., 2010). We have recently shown that the outer membrane protein OmpU is required for the virulence of V. splendidus in oysters (Duperthuy et al., 2010). In order to better understand the role...

Five new minor carotenoids, 1-5, were isolated from the oyster Crassostrea gigas. The structure of 1 was determined to be (3S,5R,6R,6'S)-3,5,6'-trihydroxy-3'-oxo-6,7-didehydro-5,6-dihydro-10,11,20-trinor-beta,epsilon-caroten-19',11'-olide 3-acetate by detailed analyses of NMR and CD data. The structures of the other carotenoids, 2-5, were also determined in a similar manner. In the FAB-MS/MS of...

Organotin salts, used as antilouling substances have a deleterious effect on the environment. particularly on molluscs and especially on the Japanese oyster Crassostrea gigas. A synthesis 01 the effects 01 tributyltin (TBT) on cultured molluscs reveals the lollowing effects: 1) acute and chronic loxicity to the adults; 2) accumulation in the f1esh 01 the adults; 3) perturbation 01 reproduction ...

20 The effects of an artificial bloom of the toxin-producing dinoflagellate, Alexandrium 21 minutum, upon physiological parameters of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, were 22 assessed. Diploid and triploid oysters were exposed to cultured A. minutum and compared to 23 control diploid and triploid oysters fed T.Isochrysis. Experiments were repeated twice, in 24 *Manuscript ha l-0 05 89 35 ...