Hoby, Stefan; Berenguer Veiga, Inês; Olias, Philipp; Küchler, Leonore; Schönbächler, Katja; Blatter, Hansueli; Schmidt-Posthaus, Heike (2022). Fatal Diplostomum phoxini infection in captive Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica chicks following ingestion of infected European minnows Phoxinus phoxinus. Diseases of aquatic organisms, 150, pp. 161-167. Inter-Research 10.3354/dao03683
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Conservation of endangered animal species is a major task of zoos. Husbandry and
breeding of Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica in captivity is challenging. In 2019, the entire chick
population (n = 4 chicks) in Berne Animal Park’s Atlantic puffin colony (Bern, Switzerland) died
within 7 d. Due to supply constraints, the chicks had been fed with wild-caught European minnows
Phoxinus phoxinus. At necropsy, the main pathological finding in all deceased puffin chicks
was a multifocal, moderate to severe subacute heterophilic and granulomatous enteritis with
intralesional adult trematodes and eggs. Metacercariae surrounded by few necrotic cells and scattered
macrophages were found in the brain and spinal cord of the food fish. Additional microbiological
analyses of both the puffin chicks and fish were unremarkable. Diplostomum phoxini DNA
could be identified in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue from the small intestine of all puffin
chicks and European minnows following PCR and sequencing of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene
and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) region. This report illustrates the importance of intensive
health checks of food fish for animal species kept in captivity.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Animal Pathology 05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) 05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Center for Fish and Wildlife Health (FIWI) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Olias, Philipp Alexander, Aeschlimann, Leonore, Schmidt-Posthaus, Heike |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology) 600 Technology > 630 Agriculture |
ISSN: |
0177-5103 |
Publisher: |
Inter-Research |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Pamela Schumacher |
Date Deposited: |
19 Aug 2022 15:09 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 16:22 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.3354/dao03683 |
PubMed ID: |
35979990 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/172129 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/172129 |
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