Mystery bacteria kills 74th Groper
Another giant groper has been found dead along the coast of north
Queensland near Townsville. The 84kg fish is the fourth to wash up dead
in the area in as many weeks.
In the last two years, 74 dead adult gropers have now been found along
the north Queensland coast. Marine scientists are worried that the
illness could soon spread through the Great Barrier Reef.
Mark Read, Manager of the Species Conservation Unit at the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority says "gropers are a crucial part of the reef
ecosystem, as well as a major tourist drawcard. In pretty much any
environment that they're in, they are keystone species, an apex
predator"
Biosecurity officers have taken the latest fish away for scientific
analysis to see if it is also a victim of a deadly septicaemia killing
off the tropical Australian fish. The Federal and Queensland
governments are putting big dollars into a research project to try to
find out why the fish are dying. Senior vetirinary officer Rachel
Bowater says a highly infectious bacteria known as streptococcus
agalactiae has been found in each of the decomposing gropers.
"We've had a lot of these fish dying from bacterial septicaemia from
this particularly nasty, virulent strain. The bacterial infection leads
to a slow and painful death for the tropical ocean giants. The fish
become blind towards the terminal stages of the bacterial septicaemia
and then get meningitis so they have an inflammation in their brain.
This is the first time the bacteria has been found in Australian waters
and it's already led to large fish kills in Taiwan and Kuwait.
Researchers are trying to identify how the bacteria made its way to the
Great Barrier Reef and are looking for a source of infection, such as
frozen bait, but there are many possibilities.
The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPIF) has urged
residents to be on the look-out for more dead gropers but has warned
them not to touch them.
Edited from Josh Bavas, ABC North Queensland May 24 2010
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Paully
Posts: 3246
Date Joined: 15/08/09
Tragic
I'm wondering if the international merchant navy vessels have contributed to this in any way, just a thought! I say that, not knowing if these fish have been found near shipping channels etc.
roberta
Posts: 2773
Date Joined: 08/07/08
A tragic thing to happen to
beautful big gropers, I was also thinking maybe the ballast from ships could be carrying bacteria from infected areas of Taiwan and other areas, then dumping it in our waters.
Ginger Tablets Rock
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
How about runoff?
Saw a show on Foxtel about a year ago, detailing how the use of fertilisers/pesticides/etc in the agricultural areas of QLD was impacting on the Great Barrier Reef whenever there was a heavy rain.
Very handy to blame international merchants/navies as long as the aussie farmers aren't being disadvantaged.
Paully
Posts: 3246
Date Joined: 15/08/09
Hardly a blame game here Auslobster
Given the other locations of the infections, it was a thought and nothing else.
riptide
Posts: 70
Date Joined: 14/01/09
bacteria
these bacteria are usually known to cause septic infections in humans. since they are part of the normal bacteria flora in the gut, they can still cause infections when they end up in places where thy dont belong. but i find it hard to believe that they should cause infections in fish.
what about runoff from the coal ship that hit the GBR???
Paully
Posts: 3246
Date Joined: 15/08/09
I thought about the coal carrier
but they have been finding this in groupers for two years according to the article.