title: Diseases of captive yellow seahorse Hippocampus kuda Bleeker, pot-bellied seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis Lesson and weedy seadragon Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacépède).
abstract: Seahorses, pipefish and seadragons are fish of the Family Syngnathidae. From 1998 to 2010, 172 syngnathid cases from the Toronto Zoo were submitted for post-mortem diagnostics and retrospectively examined. Among the submitted species were yellow seahorses Hippocampus kuda Bleeker (n=133), pot-bellied seahorses Hippocampus abdominalis Lesson (n=35) and weedy seadragons Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacépède; n=4). The three most common causes of morbidity and mortality in this population were bacterial dermatitis, bilaterally symmetrical myopathy and mycobacteriosis, accounting for 24%, 17% and 15% of cases, respectively. Inflammatory processes were the most common diagnoses, present in 117 cases. Seven neoplasms were diagnosed, environmental aetiologies were identified in 46 cases, and two congenital defects were identified.
authors.affiliation: Fish Pathology Laboratory, Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: LePage
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Dutton
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crawshaw
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Paré
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kummrow
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: McLelland
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Al-Hussinee
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lumsden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000821:virology; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D005399:Fishes / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000821:virology; D007422:Intestines / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000821:virology; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology
keywords: disease; seadragon; seahorse; syngnathid