ParaFishControl is organising the Industry Forum “Mediterranean Fish Parasite Management Strategies” at the 19th International Conference on Diseases of Fish and Shellfish that will take place in Porto from 9 to 12 September 2019. The event will be held on the 10th September 2019 from 16:00 to 19:00.

The “Mediterranean Fish Parasite Management Strategies” industry forum will focus on the parasites which have been most damaging to Mediterranean farmed species populations - Amyloodinium ocellatum, Ceratothoa oestroides, Enteromyxum leei, Enteromyxum scophthalmi, Enterospora nucleophila, Philasterides dicentrarchi, and Sparicotyle chrysophrii. During the industry forum, industry representatives will provide an overview of the most prevalent issues related to parasitic diseases in Mediterranean aquaculture farms. ParaFishControl partners will then present the new tools and techniques developed within the project to diagnose, prevent and treat these diseases. The industry forum will provide attendees with new knowledge to better manage their farms, and greatly reduce population loss in a cost-effective way.

To attend the ParaFishControl Industry Forum event, please register for EAFP here: https://skyroscongressos.pt/eafp2019/form.php.

 Click here to download the programme of the Industry Forum.

MedAID, PerformFISH and ParaFishControl are organising the workshop “Bottlenecks in Diagnostics of Mediterranean Fish Diseases” at the 19th International Conference on Diseases of Fish and Shellfish that will take place in Porto from 9 to 12 September 2019. The workshop will be held on the 9th September 2019 from 16:00 to 19:00.

The farming of sea bass and sea bream is an important productive sector in the Mediterranean, significantly contributing to the local economy and job creation in rural and coastal areas. Sea bream and sea bass are by volume the third and fourth most farmed fish species in the European Union (EU). However, in recent years, there is a growing concern regarding the lack of growth and improvement in Mediterranean Marine Fish Farming which covers the majority of sea bass and sea bream production. For the last decade, overall production in the EU has remained stagnant and at present the industry is under a range of pressures, including technical, market-oriented, legislative and financial issues.

MedAID and PerformFISH H2020 projects aim to increase the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the Mediterranean marine fish-farming sector, throughout the whole value chain. An important aspect of both projects is managing transmissible diseases of farmed fish. On the other hand, ParaFishControl aims to improve understanding of fish-parasite interaction and to develop innovative solutions and tools for the prevention, control and mitigation of farmed fish parasitic diseases. These projects are actively cooperating in all possible aspects and the workshop will cover one of the mutual interests of these three EU H2020 projects: diagnostics.

The workshop is divided into three sessions. The first session is dedicated to present the different diagnostic techniques employed in Mediterranean fish farms for viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases. The second one will be dedicated to working group discussions on the main challenges for the implementation of standardised procedures and the bottlenecks in diagnostics of the mentioned pathogens. The discussion will be moderated by experts of MedAID, PerformFISH and ParaFishControl.The final plenary session will summarise the bottlenecks identified in the previous session and discuss the way forward to overcome them.

The summary of the discussions and conclusions is planned to be published at the EAFP Bulletin.

To attend this workshop, please register for EAFP here: https://skyros-congressos.pt/eafp2019/form.php.

 Click here to download the programme of the Workshop.

Acquired protective immune response in a fish-myxozoan model encompasses specific antibodies and inflammation resolution. Fish & Shellfish Immunology. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsi.2019.04.300

The myxozoan parasite Enteromyxum leei causes chronic enteritis in gilthead sea bream (GSB, Sparus aurata) leading to intestinal dysfunction. Two trials were performed in which GSB that had survived a previous infection with E. leei (SUR), and naïve GSB (NAI), were exposed to water effluent containing parasite stages. Humoral factors (total IgM and IgT, specific anti-E. leei IgM, total serum peroxidases), histopathology and gene expression were analysed. Results showed that SUR maintained high levels of specific anti-E. leei IgM (up to 16 months), expressed high levels of immunoglobulins at the intestinal mucosa, particularly the soluble forms, and were resistant to re-infection. Their acquired-type response was complemented by other immune effectors locally and systemically, like cell cytotoxicity (high granzyme A expression), complement activity (high c3 and fucolectin expression), and serum peroxidases. In contrast to NAI, SUR displayed a post-inflammatory phenotype in the intestine and head kidney, characteristic of inflammation resolution (low il1β, high il10 and low hsp90α expression).

Check out all ParaFishControl publications here

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Methacarn preserves mucus integrity and improves visualization of amoebae in gills of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Journal of Fish Diseases. doi: 10.1111/jfd.12988

Two aqueous fixation methods (modified Davidson's solution and modified Davidson's solution with 2% (w/v) Alcian blue) were compared against two non‐aqueous fixation methods (methacarn solution and methacarn solution with 2% (w/v) Alcian blue) along with the standard buffered formalin fixation method to (a) improve preservation of the mucous coat on Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., gills and (b) to examine the interaction between the amoebae and mucus on the gill during an infection with amoebic gill disease. Aqueous fixatives demonstrated excellent cytological preservation but failed to deliver the preservation of the mucus when compared to the non‐aqueous‐based fixatives; qualitative and semi‐quantitative analysis revealed a greater preservation of the gill mucus using the non‐aqueous methacarn solution. A combination of this fixation method and an Alcian blue/Periodic acid–Schiff staining was tested in gills of Atlantic salmon infected with amoebic gill disease; lectin labelling was also used to confirm the mucus preservation in the methacarn‐fixed tissue. Amoebae were observed closely associated with the mucus demonstrating that the techniques employed for preservation of the mucous coat can indeed avoid the loss of potential mucus‐embedded parasites, thus providing a better understanding of the relationship between the mucus and parasite.

Check out all ParaFishControl publications here