Prevalence and factors associated with pathogenic bacterial infection in orange Mud crab, Scylla olivacea (Herbst, 1796) farms of Bangladesh

Bacterial infection in orange Mud crab

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21762900

Keywords:

Aeromonas, aquaculture, bacterial load, disease, pseudomonas, vibrio

Abstract

Mud crab farming is one of the significant coastal aquaculture ventures in Bangladesh and in all over the world; but bacterial diseases frequently result in Mud crab mortality in farms. The present study aimed to assess prevalence of putative pathogenic bacteria, and other factors associated with bacterial infection in farms in different seasons. Crab, water, sediment and feed samples were collected from the farms randomly selected from four study points of varied salinity, and selective culture media plates, biochemical tests and RNA sequences were used for bacterial enumeration and identification. The Mud crab farms were infected with Vibrio, Aeromonas, and Pseudomonas bacteria; Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were diagnosedin most of the samples. Vibrio spp. was detected in all unhealthy crabs while Aeromonas and Pseudomonas in more than 40% unhealthy crabs. The samples from the study point 1 had relatively higher prevalence of these bacterial species. The highest average load ofVibrio spp. (5.28±0.16 log10 cfu g-1) and Aeromonas spp. (4.36±0.25 log10 cfu g-1) in Mud crabs was recorded in summer, while the highest concentration of Pseudomonas spp. (4.21±0.16 log10 cfu g-1) in winter. Vibrio and Aeromonasconcentrations also differed significantly (p<0.05) between the study points for water, sediment and raw fish-based feed samples, and seasonal variation of Vibrio, Aeromonas and Pseudomonas loads were significant (p<0.05) for both water and feed samples. There was a significant correlation between Vibrio load in the Mud crabs and Vibrio load in the water samples, implying water being the critical source of Vibrio spp. infection in Mud crab farms; the association of feed with bacterial infections was also determined. Accordingly, this study suggests adopting good aquaculture practice (GAqP), specifically salinity-based farm selection, water treatment and quality feed utilization are to be maintained in Mud crab farming systems.

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2026-08-02

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ISLAM, M. R., HASANUZZAMAN, A. F. M., ISLAM, M. L., & BANU, G. R. (2026). Prevalence and factors associated with pathogenic bacterial infection in orange Mud crab, Scylla olivacea (Herbst, 1796) farms of Bangladesh: Bacterial infection in orange Mud crab. MARINE REPORTS (MAREP), 198–220. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21762900

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