Prospective Study of Infectious and Noninfectious Diseases in Oysters and Fishes in Three Gulf of Mexico Estuaries

摘要

The study of 3 northern US Gulf Coast estuaries (Pensacola and Escambia Bays in Northwest Florida; Mobile Bay, Alabama; Pascagoula Harbor, Mississippi Sound, Mississippi) investigates: (1) frequencies of known new diseases, including neoplasms, in oysters and fishes at sites among the estuaries; (2) general relations between disease frequency and human activity in influencing disease prevalences in fish and shellfish populations in coastal regions characterized by varying degrees of human impact. One offshore control station was collected quarterly (1979-1980) for fish disease prevalence in comparison with the estuarine stations.