were studied to establish their taxonomic status. Well-developed fragmenting vegetative mycelium was observed. The chemotype was type IVA containing rneso-diaminopimelic acid, arabinose, and galactose. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-8(H4), and mycolic acids were present. These morphological and chemical properties are characteristic of the genus Nocurdiu. The physiological and biochemical characteristics were most similar to those of Nocurdiu usteroides; however, these organisms were different in their decomposition of urea, growth temperature, utilization of nitrogen sources, survival at 50°C for 8 h, mycolic and fatty acid profiles, and deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization characteristics. Therefore, we propose a new species for these strains, Nocurdiu seriolae. The type strain is strain JCM 3360.A disease caused by actinomycetes in cultured fishes occurred first in rudderfishes (Seriola quinqueradiata and Seriola purpurascens) in Mie Prefecture, Japan, in 1967 (2, 13) and then spread to fish farms in the western district of Japan. This disease is characterized by the formation of abscesses in the epidermis and of tubercles in gills, kidneys, and spleens (13,15,17, 18). In 1968, the causative organisms were initially isolated, and their morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics were examined by Kariya et al. (13). Although these authors suggested that the strains were related to Nocardia asteroides, they proposed a new species, "Nocardia kampachi," for these organisms because of differences in some physiological and biochemical characteristics. However, morphology was the sole characteristic used for assignment of these strains to the genus Nocardia, and the description of " N . kampachi" lacked designation of a type strain. This name has never been validated, and original strains are not available anymore. Later, in 1973 and1974, Kusuda and Taki (17) and Kusuda et al. (18) isolated bacteria from infected yellowtails and identified them as " N . kampachi."We studied one of the strains of Kusuda (17) and four strains newly isolated from infected fishes (yellowtails [S. quinqueradiata] and a Japanese flounder [Paralichthys olivaceus]) to establish the taxonomic status of these strains. Based on morphological and chemical properties, we assigned the isolates to the genus Nocardia, and we propose a new species, Nocardia seriolae, for them on the basis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-DNA hybridization results and mycolic and fatty acid profiles in addition to physiological and biochemical characteristics.
MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains. In this study we used five strains isolated from cultured fishes from various fish farms in Japan and, for comparison, some strains of N . asteroides and related strains (Table 1).Morphology. The morphology of the isolates was studied by growing the strains on dilute yeast extract-malt extract agar (ISP medium no. 2 diluted to a 1/10 concentration) at 28°C for 5 days. A sample for electron microscopy was * Corresponding au...