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Gaffkaemia

Aerococcus viridans var. homari
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria
Division: Firmicutes
Class: Bacilli
Order: Lactobacillales
Family: Aerococcaceae
Genus: Aerococcus
Species: A. viridans
Subspecies: A. v. var. homari
Trinomial name
Aerococcus viridans var. homari
(Hitchner & Snieszko, 1947)
Synonyms
  • Gaffkya homari Hitchner & Snieszko, 1947
  • Pediococcus homari (Hitchner & Snieszko, 1947) Deibel & Niven, 1959

Gaffkaemia (gaffkemia in American English) is a bacterial disease of lobsters, caused by the Gram-positive lactic acid bacterium Aerococcus viridans var. homari.

Gaffkaemia was first discovered in 1947 in American lobsters (Homarus americanus) in a holding tank in Maine. It was originally described as "Gaffkya homari" by Hitcher and Snieszko, but the genus name Gaffkya was rejected in 1971, and the gaffkaemia bacterium was recognised as a subspecies or variety of Aerococcus viridans by Kelly and Evans in 1974.

The effects of gaffkaemia infection include lethargy (typically seen as a drooping tail),anorexia and a pink colour on the ventral side of the abdomen, which gives the disease its alternative common name of red tail disease. When lobsters are moribund, they may lie on their sides, and frequently lose appendages. The effects of gaffkaemia are slowed by low temperatures, such that death can occur within two days of infection at 20 °C (68 °F), but can take over 60 days at 3 °C (37 °F).

As few as five bacteria can lead to clinical disease. When they enter the host, the bacteria colonise the heart and hepatopancreas. They may be engulfed by phagocytosis into the lobster's blood cells, but continue to survive within the blood cells, feeding on the cytoplasm. The lobster's blood cell count drops, and the infection develops into septicaemia. The stores of glycogen in the hepatopancreas become depleted, concentrations of glucose and lactic acid in the blood drop, and concentrations of adenosine triphosphate in muscles also fall. In a severe infection, the ability of the lobster's blood pigment haemocyanin to carry oxygen may be reduced by up to 50%.


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