Differences in acquired and innate resistance among Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) against the haemoflagellate Cryptobia salmositica and numbers delivered by the leech vector Piscicola salmositica
Susceptible juvenile chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were protected from otherwise lethal challenges with the haemoflagellate Cryptobia salmositica by acclimation to an elevated water temperature (20 °C). Following challenge at temperatures advantageous to the haemoflagellate (9–11 °C), surviving fish had plasma with enhanced acquired lytic activity against the parasite. In contrast, most coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) from a resistant stock survived up to three challenges with C. salmositica, without "immunization" at elevated temperatures. However, they acquired little or no lytic activity against the parasite, which survived in low numbers in some fish. Also, the chinook and coho salmon did not have innate plasma factors that lysed the parasite under in vitro conditions like those demonstrated in other salmonids. Thus, the mechanism(s) that protect the resistant O. kisutch from the pathogenic affects of C. salmositica are different from those identified in other fishes that are resistant to Cryptobia spp. A challenge of 105 flagellates per fish was suggested to be representative of the number of C. salmositica inoculated into a fish by one infected leech vector (Piscicola salmositica).