Skin lesions or "sores" have been a prevalent and persistent problem in fishes of the waters of North Carolina. Massive kills of both estuarine and freshwater fishes historically have often been attributed to red-sore disease, which is believed due to primary infection by Aeramonas hydrophila.

During 1984, 65 largemouth bass (micropterus salmoides) exhibiting skin lesions were collected from the lower reaches of the freshwater tributaries of the Albemarle Sound. Twenty-five per cent (26 of 102) of these lesions contained various developmental stages of the parasitic copepod Lernaea elegans. A total of 40 per cent (26 of 65) of the fish had copepod-associated lesions. Bacteriological examination of several of these lesions often revealed the presence of very large numbers of bacteria, but Aeronamas hydrophila was not always the predominant organism. The fact that such a high percentage of lesions had these parasites indicates that these organisms may be a significant factor in allowing the establishment of bacterial infections in these fishes and may subsequently be an important contributor to the red-sore disease complex in the Albemarle.