Detection of Green Turtle Herpesviral Sequence in Saddleback Wrasse Thalassoma duperrey: A Possible Mode of Transmission of Green Turtle Fibropapilloma

Samples of DNA were prepared from various tissues and organs (including snout, gill, eye, brain, heart, liver, gut content, intestine, swim bladder, spleen, gallbladder, spinal cord, gonad, and muscle) of six healthy appearing reef cleaner fish, saddleback wrasses Thalassoma duperrey, captured from a cleaning station in North Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. The DNA samples were tested for evidence of green turtle herpesvirus infection by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Green turtle herpesviral sequences were detected in snout (3/6), gill (2/6), and liver (1/6). All other tissues were negative. Except for a single nucleotide substitution (from A to G at position 48, resulting in a single amino acid change from isoleucine to methionine at position 16), the DNA sequences detected in the fish were identical to that of a newly reported green turtle herpesvirus. Although preliminary, these data represent the first evidence for an association of a herpesvirus with saddleback wrasse, suggesting that cleaner fish may serve as vectors or carriers for the transmission of the agent causing green turtle fibropapilloma.