Sturgeon diseases in aquaculture

Abstract

Sturgeon aquaculture is economically important in many countries, for both meat and caviar production. Sturgeon is the common name for 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. Among them, only the sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) and the Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser ba-erii) completes the lifecycle in fresh water. In Serbia, in the last few years, aquaculture enterprises have shown more interest in farming these fish species. Also, the importance of sturgeon aquaculture grows due to the rapid decrease of wild populations caused by overfishing, water pollution and destruction of habitat. The development of sturgeon aquaculture activities has been accompanied by the disease outbreaks, and possibility of the emergence and rapid dissemination of several infectious disease agents may represent serious problem in sturgeon aquaculture. Several viral, bacterial , fungal and parasitic diseases have been reported worldwide. Due to the limited knowledge about epizootiology and disease control methods, infectious diseases may represent a major challenge in sturgeon aquaculture. Moreover, none of the diseases reported in sturgeon are regulated in the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) or European Union (EU) legislations. Due to the increasing interest in sturgeon aquaculture in Serbia present study is focused on the most important pathogens that may represent a threat to sturgeon aquaculture in Serbia.

Akvakultura jesetre ima veliki ekonomski značaj u brojnim zemljama, kako za dobijanje mesa tako i za proizvodnju kavijara. Jesetra je uobičajeno ime za 27 vrsta riba koje pripadaju porodici Acipenseridae. Među njima, samo kečiga (Acipenser ruthenus) i sibirska jesetra (Acipenser baerii) pro-vode ceo životni ciklus u slatkoj vodi. Poslednjih godina, u Srbiji postoji veća zainteresovanost za uzgoj ovih vrsta riba. Značaj akvakulture jesetre raste zbog brzog opadanja njihovog broja u prirodi, izazvanog prekomernim izlivom, zagađenjem voda i uništavanjem staništa. Razvoj akvakulture jesetre je praćen pojavom bolesti, a mogućnost pojave i brzog širenja uzročnika zaraznih bolesti može predstavljati ozbiljan problem. Više virusnih, bakterijskih, gljivičnih i parazitskih bolesti je uočeno širom sveta. Zbog ograničenih podataka o epizootiologiji i metodama kontrole bolesti, zarazne bolesti mogu predstavljati veliki izazov u akvakulturi jesetri. Šta više, nijedna od bolesti utvrđenih kod jesetri nije regulisana od strane Svetske organizacije za zdravlje životinja (OIE) niti zakonodavstva Evropske unije (EU). Zbog sve većeg interesovanja za akvakulturu jesetre u Srbiji, u ovom radu je ukazano na najvažnije patogene koji mogu predstavljati pretnju za zapate jesetre u akvakulturi.