A Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, was submitted for necropsy after a number of species-specific fatalities in a public aquarium. The hemolymph was opaque and did not clot and the hepatopancreas had multiple foci of necrosis centered on gram-negative bacteria. Pure cultures of Vibrio harveyi were isolated, identified initially by matrix laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, and confirmed by multilocus sequencing of the gyrB, recA, rpoA, and pyrH genes. As Caribbean spiny lobsters continue to be used for consumption and displayed in public aquariums, chronicling potential pathogens is warranted to inform differential diagnoses and to develop management strategies to reduce incidence of infectious disease in captive populations.
Keywords: Decapoda; Palinuridae; Vibrio harveyi; bacteria; crustacea; hemocyte; hepatopancreas; lobster.