Identification of Vibrio tubiashii isolated from diseased pond-cultured sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus)

In the spring of 2013, the pond-cultured sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus) were infected by anunrestrained pathogen in Zhangzhou City of Fujian Province. The sea cucumbers with the disease tentatively termed as skin ulcerative syndrome showed symptoms such as viscera ejection, general atrophy and skin ulceration. To determine the bacterial pathogen that caused the disease, one strain (FJY001) was isolated from the lesions of diseased sea cucumbers. Pathogenicity of the strain was confirmed by artificial infection and the strain was identified as Vibrio tubiashii by indicators of morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics as well assequencing of 16S rRNA and identification of Biolog microbiol system.