Resistance to viral nervous necrosis in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.): heritability and relationships with body weight, cortisol concentration, and antibody titer.

Antibody titer against NNV offers the opportunity to use indirect selection to enhance resistance, while the use of cortisol concentration as an indicator trait in breeding programs for VNN resistance is questionable. The estimate of heritability for VNN mortality indicates the feasibility of selective breeding to enhance resistance to NNV and raises attention to the development of genomic prediction tools to simplify testing procedures for selection candidates.