Tunic morphology and viral surveillance in diseased Korean ascidians: soft tunic syndrome in the edible ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi (Drasche), in aquaculture

Abstract‘Soft tunic syndrome’ causes mass mortality in the edible ascidian Halocynthia roretzi in Korean and Japanese aquaculture. In histopathological comparison, there were no specific differences between diseased specimens from Korea and Japan, indicating that soft tunic syndrome occurring in Korea and Japan is the same disease. No bacterial or protozoan cells were microscopically detected in either healthy or diseased tunics suggesting they are not the direct causes of soft tunic syndrome. Attempts were made to isolate virus from affected ascidians taking into account temperature conditions in which soft tunic syndrome is most prevalent in the field. However, no viruses were isolated from diseased or non‐diseased specimens using chinook salmon embryo (CHSE‐214), flounder fin (FFN) or epithelioma papillosum cyprini (EPC) cell lines.