Mycobacteriosis in wild rabbitfish Siganus rivulatus associated With cage farming in the Gulf of Eilat, Red Sea Infection patterns of Mycobacterium marinum were studied over a period of 3 yr in wild rabbitfish Siganus rivulatus populations associated
with commercial mariculture cages and inhabiting various sites along the Israeli Red Sea coastline. Mycobacteriosis was first recorded from the
Red Sea in 1990 in farmed sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax and is absent from records of studies on parasites and diseases of wild rabbitfish
carried out in the 1970s and 1980s. A sharp increase in the prevalence of the disease in cultured and wild fish in the region has occurred since.
A total of 1142 rabbitfish were examined over a 3 yr period from inside mariculture net cages, from the cage surroundings and from several
sites along the coast. [eng]