An epizooticc aused by a red sea bream iridovirus(RSIV)was reported to be the leading causes of high
mortalitiiens culturerde d sea bream(Pagrus major)insouthwestJ apan(lnouyee t al.,1992).Biologicaaln d
physico-chemicaplr opertieosf the virusw ere reported(Nakajima et al.,1994)and rapid method for diagnosis
of thed iseaseu singa n immunofluorescence(IF)tewsit hamonoclonal antibody was also developed(Nakajima
et al.,1995)