RT Journal Article T1 Effect of rearing density on nervous necrosis virus infection in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) A1 Vázquez Salgado, Lucía A1 Olveira Hermida, José G. A1 Pereira Dopazo, Carlos A1 Bandín Matos, Isabel K1 Cumulative mortality K1 Nervous necrosis virus K1 Rearing density K1 Senegalese sole K1 Viral load AB Intensive fish farming at high densities results in a wide range of adverse consequences on fish welfare, including pathogen spreading, stress and increased mortality rates. In this work, we have assessed whether the survival of Senegalese sole infected with the nervous necrosis virus (NNV), a pathogen responsible for severe disease outbreaks, is affected by rearing density. Based on the different fish ratios per surface area (g cm−2) and water volume (g L−1), our research showed an earlier mortality onset in the tanks containing NNV-infected fish reared at medium density (MD: 0.071 g cm−2/5 g L−1) and high density (HD: 0.142 g cm−2/10 g L−1), as well as higher cumulative mortality values. However, transcription analysis of hsp70, gr1 and pepck genes, well-known stress biomarkers, seems to indicate that none of the challenged fish were under high stress conditions. NNV load was slightly higher both in dead and in sampled fish from MD and HD groups, and especially in the rearing water from these groups, where peaks in mortality seemed to correlate with increasing NNV load in the water. In conclusion, our results suggest that rearing NNV-infected Senegalese sole at high densities resulted in an earlier mortality onset and higher cumulative values and viral load PB Wiley YR 2021 FD 2021 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29086 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29086 LA eng NO J Fish Dis. 2021;44:2003–2012. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfd.13514 NO L. Vázquez-Salgado would like to thank Interreg VA Spain–Portugal cooperation Program (POCTEP) 2014-2020, 0474_BLUEBIOLAB project, co-funded by FEDER for her research contract DS Minerva RD 24 abr 2026