The practice of farming bears for bile extraction is legal in China and involves an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 animals, primarily Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus). This study outlines the compromises to health and welfare suffered by bears on bile farms and is based on the results of visits to more than 50 bear farms; 15 years’ worth of interviews with bear farmers, Chinese officials, practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine and vendors dealing in bear parts; and from the observation and care of approximately 250 bears that have been rescued from bile farms. Bears that have been rescued from farms display evidence of severe and chronic physical and psychological suffering. Medical complications arising from the husbandry and the gall bladder fistulation significantly, and often fatally, compromise bears’ health.

Five novel species, Auerbachia scomberoidi n. sp., Auerbachia chaetodoni n. sp., Auerbachia caranxi n. sp., Coccomyxa colurodontidis n. sp. and Coccomyxa gobiodoni n. sp. are described from the gall bladders of marine teleosts. These species descriptions provide the first record of Auerbachia from Australian waters. Each species is characterized morphologically, including additional measurements for Auerbachia spp. and small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) sequences were determined for molecular phylogenetic analyses. All 5 species were each recovered from a single (and different) species of host. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a close genetic relatedness between members of Auerbachia and Coccomyxa. Based on these phylogenetic data, on obvious paraphyly displayed by the Myxidiidae and on priority, we propose the re-establishment of the family Coccomyxidae to house all species of the genera, Coccomyxa, Auerbachia and Globospora.