Recommended reporting standards for test accuracy studies of infectious diseases of finfish, amphibians, molluscs and crustaceans: the STRADAS-aquatic checklist

Complete and transparent reporting of key elements of diagnostic accuracy studies for infectious diseases in cultured and wild aquatic animals benefits end-users of these tests, enabling the rational design of surveillance programs, the assessment of test results from clinical cases and comparisons of diagnostic test performance. Based on deficiencies in the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) guidelines identified in a prior finfish study (Gardner et al. 2014), we adapted the Standards for Reporting of Animal Diagnostic Accuracy Studies—paratuberculosis (STRADAS-paraTB) checklist of 25 reporting items to increase their relevance to finfish, amphibians, molluscs, and crustaceans and provided examples and explanations for each item. The checklist, known as STRADAS-aquatic, was developed and refined by an expert group of 14 transdisciplinary scientists with experience in test evaluation studies using field and experimental samples, in operation of reference laboratories for aquatic animal pathogens, and in development of international aquatic animal health policy. The main changes to the STRADAS-paraTB checklist were to nomenclature related to the species, the addition of guidelines for experimental challenge studies, and the designation of some items as relevant only to experimental studies and ante-mortem tests. We believe that adoption of these guidelines will improve reporting of primary studies of test accuracy for aquatic animal diseases and facilitate assessment of their fitness-for-purpose. Given the importance of diagnostic tests to underpin the Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement of the World Trade Organization, the principles outlined in this paper should be applied to other World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)-relevant species.

First record of Pagellus bellottii (Teleostei: Sparidae) in the Bay of Biscay, France

The red pandora, Pagellus bellottii Steindachner, 1882, is a tropical and subtropical demersal Sparidae (Porgies) that lives over hard or sandy bottoms in coastal marine waters. It mostly occurs at depths ranging from 10 to 50 metres. It is distributed in the eastern Atlantic, from the Strait of Gibraltar to Angola and the Canary Islands where it is occasionally recorded (Bauchot and Hureau, 1986; Franqueville, 1983). The species is also recorded in the southwestern Mediterranean, in the Alboran Sea, off the Algerian coasts and in the Gulf of Gabes (Oral, 2010). The records of the species in the eastern Mediterranean, Syrian and Israeli waters (Fricke, et al. 2014, Fig. 1) is questioned. We consider these records are misidentification of Pagrus pagrus (Linnaeus, 1758). Pagellus bellottii was also included in the checklist of the fishes from Portugal as a consequence of records coming from the Algarve region, about 36°59′ N, 8° W, the northernmost records in Atlantic waters (de Castro, 1967; Erzini et al., 1996; Carneiro et al., 2014; Carneiro com. pers.). Some specimens were also recorded in Spanish Mediterranean waters, in the Bay of Almería about 36°47′ N, 2°25′ W (Lucena, et al. 1982), the northernmost records for the Mediterranean waters. Herein, the first record of P. bellottii in the Bay of Biscay is reported.