Exploring the efficacy of vaccine techniques in juvenile sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria

Wild sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria, are a valuable commercial species whose populations are declining. Fortunately, sablefish are excellent species for commercial aquaculture. Sablefish raised under high-density conditions in the marine environment require the use of efficacious vaccines to control disease. Sablefish impacted by disease in net pens may have poor flesh quality and high mortality during grow-out. As a result, disease can cause financial hardship for sablefish aquaculture operators. The efficacy of a multivalent vaccine preparation for sablefish, administered either by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection or by immersion, against atypical and typical Aeromonas salmonicida, the causative agents of atypical and typical furunculosis, respectively, was examined. A.salmonicida can affect sablefish at any age and size. Consequently, an efficacious vaccine that can be appropriately and optimally administered to all life stages is desirable. Sablefish vaccinated by immersion at similar to 1.5 or similar to 4.5g with a whole-cell multivalent vaccine were not protected against either typical or atypical A.salmonicida. Factors that may have contributed to the ineffectiveness of the immersion vaccine are discussed. By contrast, the relative per cent survival (RPS) or potency of the whole-cell multivalent vaccine injected i.p. in juvenile sablefish at similar to 50g against typical and atypical A.salmonicida was 94.3% and 81.7% respectively. The high RPS values indicated that the vaccine successfully initiated an immune response in sablefish upon a second encounter with the pathogen.