Volume 6/Number 7/July 1975 metallic processing wastes from industrial operations. Data WPCF 48th Annual Conference includes information on the basic physical and chemical properties, production figures (U.S. and foreign), uses, The Water Pollution Control Federation are holding environmental leakages, routes through the environment their 48th Annual Conference in Miami Beach, FL, from 5 and potential effects on the environment. The information to 10 October 1975. Preceded by a one-day workshop on has been indexed and is available through the Environ- contingency plans for emergencies such as natural disasters, mental Science Information Center, Marine and Earth mechanical failures and employee strikes, the conference Sciences Library (Fisheries Branch), 3300 Whitehaven will include sessions on ocean disposal, nonpoint source Street N.W., Washington, D.C., 20235. pollution, environmental effects of chlorination, inter- national water pollution control and many others. Details and programmes are available from 1 July from: Water Pollution Control Federation, 3900 Wisconsin Avenue, 3rd International Biodegradation N.W., Washington, D.C., 20016. Symposium Ocean Development Conference The Biodeterioration Society is organizing the Third International Biodegradation Symposium from 17 to 23 To coincide with the International Ocean Exposition August 1975 at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Okinawa '75, the Third International Ocean Development RI, U.S.A. The provisional programme includes symposia Conference is to be held in Tokyo from 5 to 8 August on the 'Metabolism of Hydrocarbons', the 'Mechanisms of 1975. There are five themes for the Conference: (A) Materials Degradation in the Marine Environment', the Surveying and Investigating Systems; (B) New Materials and 'Biodegradation of Oil in Aquatic Environments', and Marine Structures; (C) Marine Resources; (D) Marine Pol- sessions on 'Bioanalytical Techniques', 'Biodegradation of lution; (E) Coast Environment. Synthetic Organic Compounds', 'Biodegradation of Wood', The conference is sponsored by the Oceanographical and the 'Microbiology of Hydrocarbon Degradation'. Society of Japan, and it is hoped that it will serve to There are quite a number of marine papers in these and stimulate interest in ecologically compatible ocean develop- the other proposed symposia and sessions. ment. Papers will be available in Japanese and English.

Shell Disease in Crabs and Lobsters from New York Bight

Dumping grounds in New York Bight receive very large collecUon of benthic grab samples in the Bight we noted a quantities of sewage sludge. Lobsters and rock crabs reduction in the bottom fauna relative to what would be collected in or near the dumping grounds sometimes show expected in the area and, on several occasions, we collected various pathological conditions of the shell and ~lls. In this study the histopathology of 'shell disease', the causative agents and its effects on respiration are discussed in connexion with a possible association with the disposal of solid wastes into the ocean. RARITAN

Selected areas of the New York Bight have been used as ,4O.3o.~. sites for the dispos,~l of sewage sludge, contaminated AMBROSE LIGHT • dredging spoils and other wastes for over four decades. Gross (1970) reported that approximately 9.6 million tons of waste solids per year were dumped during the period DREDGING 50C)IL~ 1964-1968. This dumping represents the largest source of sediments entering the North Atlantic Ocean from the

North American Continent (Gross, 1970). 40"20,N. Until recently there was little information available as to IJJ >1011, the effects which these wastes have had on the physical ~l >201L environment or living marine resources of the Bight. In ,4.OO'W 1968, Sandy Hook Laboratory initiated a study to Fig. 1 Disposal areas of sewage sludge and dredging spoils determine the effects of ocean disposal of sewage sludges, determined by percent organic matter to total dry sediment dredging spoils and waste industrial acids. During our (Modified from National Marine Fisheries Service, 1972). I01 diseased crabs and lobsters from the areas receiving sewage haematoxylin and eosin. sludge and dredging spoils. These findings prompted closer examination of the problem. Results Crabs and lobsters collected from the vicinity ~)t sewage Materials and Methods sludge and dredge spoil disposal areas most frequently Occasional collections of lobsters, Homarus americanus, showed skeletal erosions on the tips of the dactylopodites a commercially important species common to the area and of the walking legs, on the ventral sides of the chelipeds, taken by fishermen in close proximity to the sludge and around areas of articulation where contaminated sediments spoil disposal grounds. (Fig. 1), and rock crabs, Cancer could accumulate, and on parts of the exoskeleton that irroratus, a potentially commercial species in the Bight, formed prolongations or spines; however, lesions were were made by means of an otter trawl or clam rake dredge. certainly not limited to these areas. Specimens (approximately one hundred) were collected in Similar erosions developed on all crustaceans held up to areas inside the spoils grounds as well as outside the New 6 weeks in aquaria containing sediment beds contaminated York Bight or, at least, out of the influence of sewage with sewage sludge or dredge spoils. These sediments were sludge and dredge spoils contamination. Diseased crabs and collected from the field. In early stages, the disease lobster, approximately half those observed, that were appeared as depressed ulcerations very similar to those occasionally found inside and near the disposal areas were described by Rosen (1967) for affected blue crabs. In later brought to the laboratory for examination. stages, severe erosions covered large areas of the shell and Equal numbers of crabs and lobsters, especially collected often parts of appendages were missing. These erosions from clean areas, were also held for up to 6 weeks in eight developed within the 6 week exposure period. 114 1. aerated aquaria containing clean sand or sludge and A histological section of normal exoskeleton from the spoils bottoms, in order to determine whether the wastes crab, Cancer irroratus, is shown in Fig. 2A. Sections of initiated the disease. diseased exoskeleton from the same species showed that all Gill and other associated tissues of diseased crabs and layers of the exoskeleton were eroded by means of pitting lobsters from the experimental aquaria, and from the areas and cracking away of the laminae (Fig. 2B), which used for waste disposal, were prepared for microscopic sometimes separated as the erosion progressed laterally. examination by fixation in Bouin's fluid, dehydration in Eroded edges were brown in colour. When the uncalcified ethanol or isopropanol, and embedding in paraffin. Sections layer was penetrated, the proximal portions of the cavity were cut at 7-10 /~m and stained with Delafield's became Fdled with agglutinated blood ceils (Fig. 2B). As the

Fig. 2 Cancer irroratus: (A) undiseased exoskeleton; (B) diseased exoskeleton, arrow indicates agglutinated blood cells; (C) covering clot of blood cells replacing eroded exoskeleton; (D) epidermal cells, x indicates flattened cells. 102 Volume 6/Number 7/July 1975 area of erosion spread and the lesion widened, the & Lofton (1973) suspect chitinoclastic bacteria to be the exoskeleton was replaced by a compacted layer of blood causative agent of shell disease in penaeid shrimp and blue cells forming a tight coveting clot (Fig. 2C). The epidermal crabs. Exoskeletal erosions found in crustaceans in Europe cells lost their columnar integrity and, although not have been attn~outed to fungi (Mann & Heplow 1938; necrotic, they did become either rounded or flattened (Fig. Gordon, 1967), although clfitinoclastic bacteria are 2D). common in marine sediments 0Vaksman et aL, 1933; Zobell Lobsters, Homarus americanus, held for up to 6 weeks in & Rittenberg, 1938; Zobell, 1939; Hock, 1940, 1941) and aerated aquaria containing sewage sludge also developed may be found as commensals on the exoskeleton (Lear, ulcers and shell erosions similar to shell disease. In addition, 1963; Rosen, 1967). Sediments in the New York Bight their gills became fouled with granular material, and a dark contain large numbers of bacteria. Coliform counts with as brown coating covered the filaments (Fig. 3B). The high as 920,000 MPN/100 ml have been found (National chitinous coveting of the i'flaments often was eroded and Marine Fisheries Service, 1972). Rosen (1970) suggests that the living underlying tissue became necrotic (Figs. 3C and several organisms are responu~nle for shell disease. If so, the 3D). The necrotic areas stained very densely with pathological manifestations are similar whether one or more haematoxylin. Eroded filaments appeared brittle and on taxa initiate the lesions. The chitin digesting organisms may occasions were broken (Fig. 3C). We did not observe these not be pathogenic under ordinary circumstances, but may phenomena in controls held for up to 6 weeks (Fig. 3A). In become so under debilitating conditions (Rosen, 1967). lobsters held on sludge the surfaces of the scaphognathites Such conditions as fouling and low oxygen tensions may became mottled with brown crusty patches which were represent additional, possibly synergistic, stresses. The extremely basophilic in histological section. Advanced degeneration of the cuticle and chitin covering the gills and pathological stages showed degeneration of the epithelium exoskeleton may expose the underlying tissues to other and complete disruption of the internal connective tissue pathogens common in sediments contaminated by sewage (Fig. 3F). Again, these conditions did not appear in lobsters sludge, chemical toxins and dredging spoils. We observed held for 6 weeks over dean, uncontaminated sand or that lobsters placed on sediments contaminated with collected from clean areas. sewage sludge and dredging spoils sediments for only a few The gills of all crabs maintained in aquaria containing hours voided fine silts from the anterior openings of the gill sewer sludge developed a brown coating, a distorted and chambers when moved to aquaria with clean water. sometimes thickened cuticle, and accumulations of detritus It is possible that lesions of the ~lls and exoskeleton between the lamellae. Ulcerations occasionally appeared on may permit the entrance of other pathogens that would not the exoskeleton. The gills of crabs held in control aquaria normally infect crustaceans with intact integuments. For for up to 6 weeks remained clean (Fig. 4A). The gills of instance, the bacterium, Pedicoccus homari, (now most crabs (C. irroratus) collected from the sewage Aerococcus viridans (var. homari) see J. Fish. Res. Bd dumping and dredge spoil disposal grounds were almost Can., 32, 702-705, 1975) which causes a moderate disease invariably more severely clogged by detritus, oily sand, and syndrome in rock crabs (Cornick & Stewart, 1966), has other debris than those taken from crabs held in experi- been shown to enter the lobster only through ruptures in mental aquaria. Histological sections showed deeply stained the integument (Stewart et al., 1969). thickenings, an apparent coating of debris along the Von Bertalanffy & Krywienczyk (1953) suggest that chitinous layer and some tissue degeneration (Fig. 4B). some crustaceans may follow the surface rule of Skeletal erosions were also common. metabolism (M = bs;-where M is metabolism, s surface or The general surface areas of the experimental animals length squared, and b a constant). There may be many held in the aquaria were covered by a fine layer of orange causes for this correlation; one possible is the area of pigmented material. Since it resembled the thin oxidized respiratory surface. In Homarus 97% of the oxygen uptake layer that forms on the surface of sewage sludge both in the occurs through the gills, the remaining 3% effected through field and in aquaria, this layer may have been an oxidized the abdominal swimmerets (Thomas, 1954). The form of the disposed waste products. This material could be trichobranchiate structure of the twenty pairs of gills wiped off but was not easily removed by gentle washing. creates a substantial surface area, Cancer irroratus, with This characteristic suggests that it might be a physically eight pairs of gills of the phyllobranchiate type, inhabits the stable complex which would allow the incubation of subtidal region, and sublittoral crabs have a relatively large microorganisms on the surface of the exoskeleton, gill area (Gray, 1957). Since the effective respiratory preparing the way for external penetration of the surface of these decapods is decreased by either fouling or exoskeleton. necrosis of gill tissue, it follows that oxygen withdrawal from the medium would also be decreased. If fouling and Discussion necrosis are extensive, withdrawal or ventilation may not be Whether the cause of the chitin erosion is fungal or sufficient to meet the oxygen requirements for cellular bacterial is not known. Hess (1937) described a shell disease respiration. in H. americanus apparently caused by a small We have found that during the summer, water near the chitinoclastic, .rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium with bottom of the sewage sludge and dredge spoil disposal areas lesions and ulcerations conspicuous on the exoskeleton. contains lower oxygen concentrations than bottom water at Sawyer & Taylor (1949) reported that the chitinous some distance from these areas (Pearce, unpublished data). covering of the gills may be destroyed. Necrosis of either Samples of bottom water collected approximately 1-2 m the underlying epidermis or connective tissue was not above the sediment near the centre of the sludge disposal mentioned. Shell disease occurs in numerous crustaceans of area in July and August 1969 contained less than 1 ppm several orders (Rosen, 1970; Cook & Lofton, 1973). Cook dissolved oxygen. This approaches the lethal limit for H. 103 Fig. 3 Homarus americanus: (A) gill of lobster held in aquarium containing clean sand; (B) touled gill o~ ~ i,:~e ~,: in aquarium containing sewage sludge; (C) broken, necrotic gill filament; (D) necrotic gilt lil~JnaeE~ (E) undiseased scaphognathite; (F) diseased scaphognathite.

Fig. 4 Cancer irroratus: (A) undiseased gill; (B) diseased ~ill 104 Volume 6/Number 7/July 1975 americanus (McLeese, 1956) and exceeds the recommended Hess, E. (1937). A shell disease in lobsters (Homarus americanus) caused by chitinovorous bacteria. J. Biol. Bd Can., 3, levels for marine aquatic organisms. 358-362. The disposal of large amounts of sewage sludge and Hock, C. W. (1940). Decomposition of chitin by marine bacteria. dredge spoils in the New York Bight is accompanied by low BIOL Bull., 79, 199-206. Hock, C. W. (1941). Marine chitin-decomposing bacteria. J. Mar. oxygen concentrations :in the bottom water of the waste Res., 4, 99-106. disposal areas. Such an environment undoubtedly Lear, D. W., Jr. (1963). Occurrence and significance of chitinoeiastic represents a situation inimical to most crustaceans and the bacteria in pelagic waters and zooplankton. In: Symposium on Marine Microbiology ed. Oppenheimer, C., Springfield, occurrence of high concentrations of bacteria in these Ill.: Charles C. Thomas. contaminated sediments may explain the presence of Mann, H. & Pieplow, U. (1938). Die Brandfleckenkrankheit bei diseased crabs and lobsters found in the vicinity of the Krebsen und ihre Erreger. Fischerei, 36,225-240. McLeese, D. W. (1956). Effects of temperature, salinity and oxygen sewage sludge and dredge spoils disposal areas. on the survival of the American lobster. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., 13, 247-272. JAMES S. YOUNG Rosen, B. (1967). Shell disease of the blue crab, Callineetes sapidus. JOHN B. PEARCE J. Invert. PatRol., 9, 348-353. Rosen, B. (1970). Shell disease of aquatic crustaceans. In: A Symposium on Disease of Fishes and Shellflshes, ed. U.S. Department of Commerce, Snieszko, S. Washington D.C.: Am. Fish Soc. National Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Fisheries Service. (1972). The effects of waste disposal in the New York Bight. Final Report, Section 2: Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center, Benthic Studies. A report submitted to the Coastal Sandy Hook Laboratory, Engineering Research Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Highlands, NJ 07732, U.S.A. Little Falls Road, Washington, D.C. by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center, Sandy Hook Laboratory, Highlands, NJ. Bertalanffy, L. yon & Krywienczyk, J. (1953). The surface rule in Sawyer, W. H. & Taylor, C. C. (1949). The effect of shell disease on crustaceans. Ant Natur., 87, 107-110. the gills and chitin of the lobster (Homarus americanus). Mar. Cook, D. W. & Lofton, S. R. (1973). Chitinoclastic bacteria Deep. Sea Shore Fish. Res. Bull., (1). associated with shell disease in Penaeus shrimp and the blue Stewart, J. E. Doekrill, A. & Cornick, J. (1969). Effectiveness of the crab (Callinectes sapidus). I. Wiidl. Dis., 9, 154-159. integument and gastric fluid as barriers against transmission Cornick, J. W. & Stewart, J. E. (1966). Microorganisms isolated of Gafflcya homari to the lobster Homarus americanus. Y. from the hemolymph of the lobster (Homarus americanus). J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., 26, 1-14. Fish. Res. Bd Can., 23, 1451-1454. Thomas, J. H. (1954). The oxygen uptake of the lobster (Homarus Cornick, J. W. & Stewart, J. E. (1968). Pathogenicity of Gaffltya vulgaris Edw. ). Y. exp. Biol., 31,228-251. homari for the crab Cancer irroratus. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., Waksman, S. A., Carey, C. L. & Reuszer, H. W. (1933). Marine 25, 795-799. bacteria and their role in the cycle of life in the sea. I. Gordon, I. (1967). Crustacea-general considerations. In: Decomposition of marine plant and animal residues by L 'enconomie Maritime et Rurale De Kayar, Village bacteria. Biol. Bull., 65, 57-79. Senegalais- Probldmes de D~veloppement. Memoires de Zobell, C. E. (1939). Occurrence and activity of bacteria in marine d'Imtitut Fundamental d'Afrique Noire. sediments. In: Recent Marine Sediments. Tulsa, OK: Gray, I. E. (1957). A comparative study of the gill area of crabs. American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Biol. Bull., 112, 34-42. Zobell, C. & Rittenberg, S. C. (1938)..The occurrence and Gross, M. G. (1970). New York metropolitan region - a major characteristics of chitinoclastic bacteria in the sea. Y. sediment source. Water Resources Res., 6,927-931. Bacteriol., 35,275-287. Phytoplankton Diversity and Chlorophyll-A in a Polluted Estuary

The quantity of phytoplankton in Newark Bay, New Jersey as indicated by chlorophyll¢ content of the water, is low in the winter and early spring, and fluctuates greatly during the spring and summer. Odorophyll-a con- centrations are generally less than 20 /tg/l until April. Nework )} ] I ..~ Between April and August, three phytoplankton blooms N /I ~ ,Jersey ~.~ were indicated by chlorophyll-a concentrations as high as t 2 km I ci, 81.4 ttg/l. Net phytoplankton diversity values indicated / I I ~ ~ ~=~ generally eutrophic conditions; however, there was no significant correlation between diversity and chlorophyll~ 1 : New concentrations. A role of nannoplankton in blooms is York indicated. City

In the nineteenth Century, Newark Bay (Fig. 1) supported important crab, oyster, shad and smelt fksheries (Ingersoll, 1881; Earll, 1887). However, by 1887, there were indications that pollution was destroying the shad ,(2 $toten Islond fisheries, as these fish had acquired a coal-oil taste (Earll, 1887). All of the commercial fmhefies have now been Fig. 1 Locations of sampling sites, 1-4, in Newark Bay, New destroyed and it appears that no significant commercial Jersey, U.S.A. 105