Two urease-positiveVibrio spp. were isolated from a brown shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) that died in captivity at a national aquarium. Morphological, biochemical, and molecular genetic studies revealed one of the isolates to beV. damsela; the other isolate was unique and has been classified asV. carchariae sp. nov. BothV. damsela andV. carchariae were found to be virulent for spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias), causing death in less than 18 hours after intraperitoneal injection of ca. 4×10(6) cells.V. damsela was strongly cytotoxic for Y1 adrenal cell monolayers;V. carchariae exhibited weak cytotoxicity for Y1 cells.V. damsela contained cryptic plasmids and both isolates were urease positive.V. carchariae was able to utilize urea as sole source of carbon and nitrogen.

TwoVibrio species identified asV. damsela and a new sucrose-positiveVibrio sp.,V. carchariae sp. nov., were simultaneously isolated from a brown shark which died while being held in captivity at a large aquarium. Pathogenicity studies were subsequently conducted using a variety of elasmobranchs, including smooth dogfish and lemon sharks. Both bacterial strains proved pathogenic, causing death in nearly all of the elasmobranch hosts challenged. Virulence studies revealed that both bacterial strains were cytotoxic for Y-1 mouse adrenal cells. TheV. damsela strain was highly cytotoxic causing Y-1 cellular damage at culture supernatant dilutions up to 1 : 128. Both strains were hemolytic, but neither exhibited the Kanagawa phenomenon. They were both capable of urea hydrolysis, an interesting trait, considering that elasmobranchs retain large (ca 300 milliosmolal) urea concentration in their tissue.

Vibrio cholerae serotype O1 has been isolated from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and estuaries and sewers in Louisiana. The occurrence of V. cholerae O1 in the aquatic environment in the absence of human disease suggests that this organism survives and multiples in the natural environment.