STUDIES ON THE PATHOGENIC BACTERIA OF THE LIVER-KID-NEY DISEASE OF EELS(ANGUILLA JAPONICA)

The liver-kidney disease of pond-cultured eels occurred mainly during periods fromFebruarv to Mav and from October to December each year,and caused serious damage tOthe eel culturing industry in Chaozhou,Guangdong Province The present paper describessymptoms of this disease and studied characters of its pathogenic organism,Ten strains ofpathogenic bacteria were isolated from internal organs of diseased eels.On the bases ofmorphological and biochemical characteristics,8 strains of the bacteria were identified asEdwardeiella tarda,other 2 as Aeromonas sp.It is suggested that liver-kidney disease of pond-cultured eels in Chaozhou,Guangdong Province be mainly edwardsielliasis caused by E. tarda,but occasionally caused by E. tarda and a motile Aeromonas sp. Therefore,E. tarda is the pathogenic bacteria of the liver-Kid-nev disease of the eels.