Tuberculosis in seals caused by a novel member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex: Mycobacterium pinnipedii sp. nov.

A comparison of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates from seals (pinnipeds) in Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Great Britain and New Zealand was undertaken to determine their relationships to each other and their taxonomic position within the complex. Isolates from 30 cases of tuberculosis in six species of pinniped and seven related isolates were compared to representative and standard strains of the M. tuberculosis complex. The seal isolates could be distinguished from other members of the M. tuberculosis complex, including the recently defined ‘Mycobacterium canettii’ and ‘Mycobacterium caprae’, on the basis of host preference and phenotypic and genetic tests. Pinnipeds appear to be the natural host for this ‘seal bacillus’, although the organism is also pathogenic in guinea pigs, rabbits, humans, Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and, possibly, cattle. Infection caused by the seal bacillus is predominantly associated with granulomatous lesions in the peripheral lymph nodes, lungs, pleura, spleen and peritoneum. Cases of disseminated disease have been found. As with other members of the M. tuberculosis complex, aerosols are the most likely route of transmission. The name Mycobacterium pinnipedii sp. nov. is proposed for this novel member of the M. tuberculosis ...

The dusky rockfishes (Teleostei: Socrpaeniformes) of the North Pacific Ocean: resurrection of Sebastes variabilis (Pallas, 1814) and a redescription of Sebastes ciliatus (Tilesius, 1813)

The dusky rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus) of the North Pacific Ocean has been considered a single variable species with light and dark forms distributed in deep and shallow water, respectively. These forms have been subjected to two distinct fisheries separately managed by federal and state agencies: the light deep form is captured in the offshore trawl fishery; the dark shallow form, in the nearshore jig fishery. The forms have been commonly recognized as the light dusky and dark dusky rockfishes. From morphological evidence correlated with color differences in some 400 specimens, we recognize two species corresponding with these color forms. Sebastes ciliatus (Tilesius) is the dark shallow-water species found in depths of 5−160 m in the western Aleutian Islands and eastern Bering Sea to British Columbia. The name Sebastes variabilis (Pallas) is resurrected from the synonymy of S. ciliatus to apply to the deeper water species known from depths of 12−675 m and ranging from Hokkaido, Japan, through the Aleutian Islands and eastern Bering Sea, to Oregon. Sebastes ciliatus is uniformly dark blue to black, gradually lightening on the ventrum, with a jet black peritoneum, a smaller symphyseal knob, and fewer lateral-line pores compared to S. variabilis. Sebastes variabilis is more variable in body color, ranging from light yellow to a more usual tan or greenish brown to a nearly uniform dark dorsum, but it invariably has a distinct red to white ventrum. Synonymies, diagnoses, descriptions, and geographic distributions are provided for each species.