Marine Science Institute-UFC, Av. da Abolição 3207, Fortaleza, Ceará, 60165-081, Brazil.
*Corresponding author: E-mail: regine@labomar.ufc.br
1Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ, Manguinhos, RJ, RJ, 21045-900, Brazil.
The aim of the present research was to quantify and identify Vibrio spp. communities in the environment and on the marine shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, in areas where Infectious Myonecrosis Virus (IMNV) disease occurs in the Brazilian Northeast. Water and sediment from ponds of 14 shrimp farms from five production centers (Piaui, Ceara and Rio Grando do Norte States) as well as tissues of 300 shrimps were sampled. Bacteria count (Vibrio spp.) from ponds and farms’ intake water varied from 1.25 × 102 to 10.25 × 106 CFU/g (n=24) and from 1.40 × 103 to 6.0 × 105 CFU/mL (n=16), respectively. From the shrimp bacterial analysis, 213 Vibrio strains were identified; from these strains, 189 were identified upto species level, 73 were isolated from hemolymph; 62 from the hepatopancreas and 54 from muscle. From a total of 213 Vibrio strains, 19.7% (42 strains) were Vibrio alginolyticus. A massive infection of Vibrio in shrimp's hepatopancreas and hemolymph leads to suspect that these bacteria have an important role in shrimps mortality caused by IMNV.
