234 * To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Ophiuroids are among the most common and conspicuous macro-invertebrates in shallow water habitats. Many species live in association with larger invertebrates, such as sponges, corals and other echinoderms (e.g., Baker et al. 2001, Tominaga et al. 2004, Henkel and Pawlik 2005). However, ophiuroids themselves may serve as hos...

Crustacea, particularly Decapoda, contains many economically important species, such as shrimps and crabs. Crustaceans exhibit enormous (nearly 500-fold) variability in genome size. However, limited genome resources are available for investigating these species. Exopalaemoncarinicauda Holthuis, an economical caridean shrimp, is a potential ideal experimental animal for research on crustaceans. ...

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is the causative agent of a disease which has recently caused high shrimp morbidity, mortality and severe damage to shrimp cultures. In this study a strain of WSSV from tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon was used to detect DNA damage in muscle cells by using Comet Assay. The term "comet" refers to the pattern of DNA migration through the electrophoresis gel, which oft...

A comparative study regarding prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Vibrio species in the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon Fabricius) culture environment as well as market samples were analyzed. Total Vibrio counts were found to range up to 2.5 × 10 cfu/gm and 60 cfu/gm in shrimp and Gher water samples, respectively. Results revealed that the total vibrio count were found to be high...

The burrowing and movement ability of the New Zealand cockle Austrovenus stutchburyi is reduced when infected by echinostome trematodes. Previous experimental evidence from a single site suggests that this parasite-induced behavioural change of a key bivalve can affect the structure of the surrounding benthic community. By using multiple regression analyses on data collected from 17 intertidal ...

The brine shrimp Artemia parthenogenetica (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) is intermediate host for several cestode species whose final hosts are waterbirds. Previous field studies have shown that brine shrimps infected with cestodes have a bright red colour and are spatially segregated in the water column. However, the ethological mechanisms explaining such field observations are unknown. Changes in ...

Caridean shrimps are a highly diverse group and many species form symbiotic relationships with different marine invertebrates. Periclimenesrathbunae is a brightly colored shrimp that lives predominantly in association with sea anemones. Information about the reproductive ecology of the species is scarce. Therefore, we collected 70 ovigerous females inhabiting the sun sea anemone Stichodactylahe...

An experiment of 45 days duration to test the efficacy of the Vibrio alginolyticus as an immunostimulant was conducted in Marsupenaeus japonicus against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection, considered as one of the serious pathogens of shrimps. The shrimps were fed with the experimental diets coated with different concentrations of bacteria of 17 ml / kg feed and 10 % of animal body wt. ...

AIMS To investigate the effect of processing treatments on the destruction of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) DNA in WSSV-infected farmed shrimps (Penaeus monodon). METHODS AND RESULTS The presence of WSSV was tested by single step and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The primers 1s5 & 1a16 and IK1 & IK2 were used for the single step PCR and primers IK1 & IK2-IK3 & IK4 were used for t...

Infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) has been causing a progressive disease in farm-reared shrimps in Brazil and Indonesia. Immunodiagnostic methods for IMNV detection, although reliable, are not employed currently because monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against this virus are not available. In this study, a fragment of the IMNV major capsid protein gene, comprising amino acids 300-527 (IMNV(300-52...