Isolation and characterization of a new Vibrio spp. (Vibrio wodanis) associated with 'winter ulcer disease' in sea water raised Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in New Brunswick

'Winter ulcer disease' is a problem in seawater salmonid aquaculture in Norway, Iceland and Scotland. The disease is associated with low water temperatures (<6-8 degree C) and is characterized by shallow ulcers on scale covered tissue that may progressively deepen and penetrate muscular layers. Moritella viscosa and Vibrio wodanis are the most prominant Vibrionaceae found in association with this disease. During the late summer and early fall of 1999, several salmon aquaculture sites in the Bay of Fundy, NB, reported stocks with shallow to severe skin ulcerations and mortalities typical of 'winter ulcer disease'. Water temperatures were 8 degree C at the onset of signs of disease V. wodanis was isolated as the predominant organism associated with the lesions. This is the first record of this organism in Canada.