Ocular tissue changes associated with anterior segment opacity in lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L) eye

Lumpfish use their vision to hunt prey or, in the case of aquaculture, to see and eat pelleted diets. A common anterior ocular opacity abnormality designated in the literature as "cataract" described in both farmed and wild lumpfish has not yet been characterized in detail at the pathobiological level. We describe here lens tissue changes associated with cataract in cultured and domesticated lumpfish. Methodology included gross observations, ophthalmoscopy and histology. Young adult cultured animals approaching 400 days post-hatch presented a range of anterior segment opacities associated with lenticular abnormalities observable at a histological level. Wild aged domesticated animals also displayed cataracts characterized mainly by abnormalities of the lens observed by both ophthalmoscopy and histology. Dysplastic lesions of the lens in one aged domesticated lumpfish were accompanied with both retinal and optic nerve degeneration. These novel naturally occurring anatomical changes in lumpfish present both commonalities and unique features associated with cataract in young adult cultured animals versus aged domesticated broodstock animals.