Maureen K Purcell, Ph.D. (Former Employee)

To compensate for low natural survival of endangered Lost River Suckers Deltistes luxatus, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Klamath Tribes have initiated captive rearing programs. We conducted laboratory experiments intended to determine the temperature for optimum growth of juvenile Lost River Suckers; however, due to an unanticipated infection with Ichthyobodo spp., we...

Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an emerging disease that recently resulted in a large mortality event of salmonids in the Yellowstone River (Montana, USA). Total PKD fish mortalities in the Yellowstone River were estimated in the tens of thousands, which resulted in a multi‐week river closure and an estimated economic loss of US$500,000. This event shocked scientists, managers, and...

Nuclear inclusion X (NIX) is a gamma proteobacteria that infects the nuclei of gill epithelial cells in Pacific razor clams. NIX has been associated with clam die-offs in coastal Washington. A quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay was developed to detect NIX in Pacific razor clams, and assay specificity was confirmed by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH). Both tests were applied to...

Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are increasingly vulnerable to anthropogenic activities and climate change, especially at their most southern species range in California’s Central Valley. There is considerable interest in understanding stressors that contribute to population decline and in identifying management actions that reduce the impacts of those stressors. Along the west...

Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV-1) is a segmented RNA virus which is commonly found in salmonids in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. PRV-1 causes the Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI) disease in Atlantic salmon and is associated with several other disease conditions. Previous phylogenetic studies of genome segment 1 (S1) identified four main genogroups of PRV-1 (S1 genogroups I –...

Piscine orthoreovirus genotype 1 (PRV‐1) is the causative agent of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). The virus has also been found in Pacific salmonids in western North America, raising concerns about the risk to native salmon and trout. Here, we report the results of laboratory challenges using juvenile Chinook salmon, coho salmon...