Abstract

The Mycobacterium spp. infection they have been documented in many vertebrates, causing known diseases in man and animals. The species responsible for the occurrence of mycobacteriosis in fish, Mycobacterium marinum, M. fortuitum and M. chelonae, are also potentially infectious for penaeid shrimp. The mycobacterial disease that affects shellfish corresponds to a systemic disease, granulomatous, having as an etiological agent Gram-positive bacilli resistant acid-alcohol. We report the occurrence of mycobacteriosis in shrimps of the species Litopenaeus vannamei, and identified the species M. marinum in tissue samples analyzed. During the maintenance of juvenile of the species, blackish lesions were observed in the sixth abdominal segment in 20 specimens. From techniques Fite-Faraco and hybridization in situ with fluorescence (FISH), has identified the pathogen in the analyzed tissue was observed, representing a bacterial disease of aquatic environments with zoonotic potential, causing risks of topical contamination on people involved in handling shrimp.