Further Studies on Haemogregarina bigemina Laveran & Mesnil, the Marine Fish Blennius pholis L., and the Isopod Gnathia maxillaris Montagu 1

Haemogregarina bigemina is redescribed from the blood of the marine fish Blennius pholis , and stages presumed to be those of the haemogregarine are recorded from the hematophagous praniza larva of the isopod Gnathia maxillaris . At College Rocks, Aberystwyth, Wales, the main study area, a high incidence of infection occurred in B. pholis . No exoerythrocytic stages were observed in these fish, nor was sexual dimorphism of the gametocyte evident. As in an earlier study, ecological evidence favored transmission by G. maxillaris rather than by leeches. Gametocytes, syzygy, oocysts, sporoblasts, and sporozoites were identified in the anterior hindgut of the isopod. The stages observed in G. maxillaris are compared with those of other haemogregarines described from the digestive tract of leeches. Mention is made of an intraleucocytic haemogregarine of another fish, Crenilabrus melops .