Epidermal Papilloma on the Snout of Cultured Eel, Anguilla japonica (Temminck and Schlegel, 1847) in Korea

A case of epidermal papillomatosis is reported in samples of cultured eel, Anguilla japonica obtained from an eel farm in Korea. The affected eel showed reddish tumors on the dorsal or ventral aspect of snout. Hisotologically, the lesions appeared very similar to epithelial tumors, with many complex papillae in the epithelial fold. In the dermis, there was a weak fibroblastic proliferation of the connective tissue and diffusive congestion of blood vessels. Although epidermal papillomatosis is rather common in fish but this is apparently the first report of epidermal papilloma incidence in farmed eel in Korea.