Diseases of Aquatic Organisms
DAO is a hybrid research journal on all aspects of disease phenomena in aquatic organisms.
Impact Factor1.2 (JCR 2026 release)
Article Acceptance Rate56.8% (2025)
Median Time in Review111 days (2025)
Total Annual Downloads308.254 (2026)
Editors-in-Chief
Alicia E. Toranzo
Department de Microbiologia, Facultad de Biologia, Universidad de Santiago, 15703 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Thomas B. Waltzek
Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA
Inter-Research Editorial Staff
Assistants to the Editors
John Austin, Reejupriya Borah, Matthias Dirbach, Sherry Engelhardt, Catherine Fesefeldt, Linda Froome, Ivor George, Lars Litwin, Justin Mellersh, Lars Nordmann, Claire Pritchard, Ian Stewart, Natalie Striepe, Nicole Taros, Tanja Tonn
Editors
Editors are fully responsible for the review process of manuscripts allotted to them; they decide on acceptance or rejection of manuscripts handled by them.
Andrew C. Barnes
The University of Queensland, Centre for Marine Studies, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
Bacterial pathogens in fish, vaccines, bacterial host-pathogen interactions, DNA vaccines, bacterial genomics, fish immunology
Thomas Braunbeck
Aquatic Ecology & Toxicology, Center for Organismal Studies, University of Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Toxicant-induced pathology
Catherine Collins
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Distillery Fields, North Mall, Cork T23 TK30, Ireland
Molecular aspects of disease phenomena
Michelle Dennis
Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Investigation of natural disease and mortality in aquatic animals, including marine mammals, sea turtles, finfish, gastropods, echinoderms, crustaceans, coral and freshwater bivalves; Diagnostic anatomic pathology (post-mortem and surgical pathology)
Mark D. Fast
Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4P3, Canada
Fish immunology; fish physiology and diseases; parasitology; host-pathogen interactions
Marta Gomez-Chiarri
Department of Fisheries, Animal & Veterinary Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
Prevention and management of diseases in marine organisms – diagnostics, probiotics, microbial-microbial interactions, genomics and comparative immunology
Lori Gustafson
National Surveillance Unit, Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117, USA
Aquatic animal disease surveillance and epidemiology
Larry Hanson
Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Viral and bacterial diseases of fish
James Jancovich
Department of Biological Sciences, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA 92096, USA
Viral infections of aquatic vertebrates, viral genomics and evolution, and host–pathogen interactions
Stewart C. Johnson
Head, Aquatic Animal Health, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, BC V9T 6N7, Canada
Genomic, proteomic and metabolomic aspects
Fuhua Li
Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, PR China
Diseases of crustaceans, reproduction and development of crustaceans, functional genomics
Jan Lovy
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Public and Ecosystem Health, 930 Campus Road, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Fish disease ecology, histopathology, microbiology, parasitology and ultrastructural pathology
Michael Moore
Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Disease research in aquatic mammals
Esther C. Peters
Environmental Science & Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, USA
Diseases of coral reef organisms
Stephen Raverty
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Abbotsford, BC V3G 2M3, Canada
Diseases in aquatic mammals (post mortem examination, disease outbreak investigations, health assessment and disease processes in marine mammals)
Kimberly S. Reece
Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA
Molecular phylogenetics, protistan diseases, molecular diagnostics, shellfish aquaculture
Louise Rollins-Smith
Deptartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
Diseases of amphibians: immunology (amphibian immune defenses: chytridiomycosis, Ranaviruses, peptides; mucosal immunity in amphibian skin; developmental and comparative immunology)
Dave S. Rotstein
Marine Mammal Pathology Services, Olney, MD 20832, USA
Histopathology of marine mammals and fishes
Jeffrey D. Shields
Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William & Mary, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA
Diseases of invertebrates, primarily crustaceans (etiology, pathology, epidemiology, ecology)
David W. Verner-Jeffreys
WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia
Bacterial disease of fish and shellfish
Douglas Woodhams
College of Science and Mathematics, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA
Disease ecology of amphibians
Review Editors
Review Editors critically assess the scientific value of manuscripts, and may advise authors in matters of manuscript presentation.
Bassem Allam
Stony Brook, NY, USA
Mollusc pathology and host-pathogen interactions, mollusc immunology
Ellen Ariel
Townsville, QLD, Australia
Reptile virology; ranaviruses in fish
Wes Baumgartner
Mississippi State, MS, USA
Fish and crustaceans: diseases, histopathology and gross pathology
Donald C. Behringer
Gainesville, FL, USA
Aquatic animal disease ecology: decapod crustaceans
Sven M. Bergmann
Greifswald, Germany
Virology, diagnostics and notifiable diseases in fish, molluscs and crustaceans; humoral immunity in fish; parasitology; hygiene in aquaculture
Franck C. J. Berthe
Parma, Italy
Diseases of molluscs, lower invertebrates, and microorganisms
Jamie Bojko
Middlesbrough, UK
Crustacean pathology, invasion biology, crustacean viruses, parasitology (bacteria, fungi, amphipods)
David Boyle
Geelong, VIC, Australia
Virology, molecular diagnostic techniques, vaccine vectors and immune responses, large DNA genome viruses
Diane G. Elliott
Seattle, WA, USA
Fishes: bacterial diseases, pathology and histopathology, diagnostic methods, host-pathogen interactions
Mansour El-Matbouli
Vienna, Austria
Fish and crustaceans: molecular aspects of host–parasite interaction; morphogenesis and ontogenesis of parasites; molecular immunology and pathobiology of parasitic diseases
Ralph Elston
Carlsborg, WA, USA
Molluscs, infections, histology, neoplasms, probiotics, aquaculture health management
Frances Gulland
Davis, CA, USA
Diseases of marine mammals
Sascha L. Hallett
Corvallis, OR, USA
Myxozoan parasites of fishes and annelids: detection, identification, life cycles, monitoring
David Hoole
Keele, UK
Host-parasite interactions in fish, especially to immunological responses; effects of water quality on fish immunity
Robert Johnson
Millthorpe, NSW, Australia
Diseases of amphibians and aquatic reptiles, reptile haematology, anaesthesia of amphibians and reptiles, ethics of wildlife research
Gael Kurath
Seattle, WA, USA
Fish virology: RNA virus epidemiology, evolution, host specificity, and DNA vaccines
Yuanan Lu
Honululu, HI, USA
Animal cell culture, virus and viral diseases, viral detection and immunity, molecular virology of aquatic animals
Nicholas J. G. Moody
Geelong, VIC, Australia
Finfish virology: detection, identification and characterisation of viruses, diagnostic test development, pathogenesis, primary cell culture
Alexander G. Murray
Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Epidemiology of aquatic animal diseases; epidemiological and environmental modelling
Leigh Owens
Townsville, QLD, Australia
Infectious diseases and host responses of aquatic animals, especially crustaceans, virulence determinants in Vibrios
Allan Pessier
San Diego, CA, USA
Amphibian disease and pathology, general pathology (invertebrates, fish, reptiles and amphibians)
Trygve T. Poppe
Ås, Norway
Pathology and histopathology; side-effects of immunization; inflammatory responses
Jacques Robert
Rochester, NY, USA
Developmental and comparative immunology, viral immunity, biology of ranaviruses and other DNA viruses, molecular evolution, tumorgenesis, tumor immunity
Helmut Segner
Bern, Switzerland
Fishes; nutritional disorders, toxicological pathology, stress-related injuries; diseases due to microorganisms
Michael K. Stoskopf
Raleigh, NC, USA
NMR based metabolomics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics of drugs in aquatic species, aquatic mammals, marine fishes, reptiles, seabirds and invertebrates
Richard Thiery
Sophia Antipolis, France
Fish virology including molecular aspects, diagnostics, control (vaccine), nodavirosis in marine fish and rhabdoviral diseases
Antonio Villalba
Vilanova de Arousa, Spain
Parasites and diseases of bivalve molluscs; pathology; environmental influences; host defense mechanisms
Thomas Wahli
Bern, Switzerland
Host-pathogen relationships, esp. parasites and viruses
Keith Way
Weymouth, UK
Fish virology: fish cell culture, viral pathogenesis, development and validation of diagnostic methods and characterisation, significance of newly identified viruses
Richard J. Whittington
Camden, NSW, Australia
Iridoviruses and nodaviruses of finfish, herpesviruses of shellfish, mycobacterial diseases, transmission and control of infectious disease