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Morphology, seasonality and phylogeny of Z schokkella soleae sp. n. ( M yxozoa, M yxosporea) parasite of S olea solea (L.) ( P leuronectiformes, S oleidae) from G har E l M elh L agoon, T unisia
Author(s) -
Yemmen C,
Marton S,
Bahri S,
Eszterbauer E
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of fish diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-2761
pISSN - 0140-7775
DOI - 10.1111/jfd.12088
Subject(s) - biology , myxosporea , myxozoa , parasite hosting , zoology , gall , morphometrics , species complex , ecology , fishery , phylogenetic tree , fish <actinopterygii> , world wide web , computer science , biochemistry , gene
A new M yxosporea, Z schokkella soleae sp. n., was found in the gall bladder and the bile of common sole, Solea solea ( L .), from Ghar El Melh Lagoon in north‐east Tunisia. This is the first record for the presence of Z schokkella species in Tunisian waters. The parasite's plasmodia are polysporic with variable size and shape. Some plasmodia appeared attached to the gall bladder epithelium while others were found free in bile. Mature spores are ellipsoidal in frontal view 13.8 ± 0.38 μm long and 10.86 ± 0.40 μm wide with two equal size spherical polar capsules 3.6 ± 0.43 μm in size. The prevalence of infection seems to correlate with host size and changes over the year with maximum percentage in summer. Based on the 18S rDNA sequence data, Z. soleae sp. n. is readily distinguishable from other myxozoan DNA sequences in GenBank. Phylogenetically, the new species is placed in the freshwater Myxidium clade including several Zschokkella spp. infecting the gall bladder. Morphology, histology as well as DNA sequence analysis indicate that the examined species differs from all previously described Zschokkella species.