Among the Iridovirus related infections frequently described on many teleosts fish species, Viral Erythrocytic Necrosis (VEN) (Pinto et al., 1989), Epizootic Haematopoietic Necrosis Virus (EHNV) (Langdon et al., 1988) as weil as Lymphocystis Disease Virus (LDV) are not considered to directly cause fatality. Indeed, Lymphocystis outbreaks of farmed fish could be observed in some cases, as a consequence of a bacterial double infection or cannibalism (Ahne ef al., 1991; Moate et al., 1992). Here, we report for the first time a strong LDV infection, and an additional physical stress responsible for mortalities of reared sea bream, Sparus aurata, from Toulon area, on French Mediterranean coast. Although, since the first report of Lymphocystis in sea bream under aquaculture conditions in Israel (Papema et al., 1982), LDVs were described in other farmed sea bream in Italy (Masoero et al, 1986), Portugal (Menezes ef al, 1987), Spain (Basurco ef al., 1990), Turkey and Greece (Moate et al. 1992).