Figure 5.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus recovered from oyster tissue. Vibrio parahaemolyticus numbers in adductor muscle (A), gill (B), and hemolymph (C) at days 7, 14, and 28 post-tank inoculation with 10⁴ CFU/mL of V. parahaemolyticus in each of the treatment groups, which consisted of the control (MS) (multistress: decreased saline and increased temperature), multistress: single inoculation (MS: SI) with 10⁴ CFU/mL of V. parahaemolyticus, and multistress: multi-inoculation (MS:MI) with 10⁴ CFU/mL of V. parahaemolyticus every 7 days for the duration of the experiment. Significant differences in bacterial burdens between treatment groups were assessed by analyzing rank-transformed culturable bacterial data by two-way ANOVA using Tukey’s post-test for multiple comparisons and are indicated by asterisks (^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01). Each data point represents results from one oyster. Data points located on the horizontal axis indicate values below the limit of detection. Horizontal lines represent mean values of six oysters at day 7, ± SEM of five to six oysters at day 14, and ±SEM of one to five oysters at day 28. ND, not detected.