Common, generally accepted names of the organism or disease agent Rickettsia -like infection of prawns in British Columbia, Stained prawn disease. Rickettsia -like organisms. Geographic distribution Disease most prevalent in Howe Sound but has been observed in one prawn from Sabine Channel in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia.
Host species Pandalus platyceros .
The organisms predominantly infect the fixed macrophages between the tubules on the outer surface of the hepatopancreas resulting in an intense focal melanotic response. These compact melanotic whorls of cells then migrate towards the cuticle and are supposedly shed with the moult. The development of the gonad and the morphology of secondary sexual characteristics were abnormal in infected prawns. Prawns from an unaffected area that were fed diseased prawns in the laboratory began to die of the disease about 2 months after exposure. A dark discolouration of the cuticle, especially along the ventral surfaces of the cephalothorax and along the edges of cuticular segments is characteristic of the later stages of the disease.