The pathogenicity of the fish nodavirus causing viral nervous necrosis (VNN) of sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus was examined in sevenband grouper and other marine fish by intramuscular injection. Sevenband groupers of 27~104 g in body w...
The pathogenicity of the fish nodavirus causing viral nervous necrosis (VNN) of sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus was examined in sevenband grouper and other marine fish by intramuscular injection. Sevenband groupers of 27~104 g in body weight were highly susceptible to the fish nodavirus, but yellowtail (537 g in body weight), red seabream (207 g), rock bream (43 g), flounder (41 g), tiger puffer (27 g) and rockfish (94 g) of the sizes used to this experiment were not. The pathogenicity of the viral agent to the sevenband grouper was high without regard to fish sizes at rearing water temperature over $20^{\circ}C$, but not at $15^{\circ}C$. Therefore, susceptibility of sevenband grouper to the viral agent causing VNN was thought to be water temperature-dependent rather than fish size (age-dependent). Compared to the infectivity of the viral agent to sevenband grouper with artificial infection methods, fish were successfully affected by intramuscular, intraperitoneal, oral, dipping and cohabitation administrations although there were slight differences in mortalities among infection methods. And survival sevenband grouper after infection with the fish nodavirus was resistant to the reinfection for a long time.