Henneguya akule n. sp. in the big eyed scad (Selar crumenophthalmus) from Hawaii.
June 27th, 2008 | by admin |Henneguya akule n. sp. in the big eyed scad (Selar crumenophthalmus) from Hawaii.
We describe a new myxozoan, Henneguya akule n. sp. infecting the carangid fish Selar crumenophthalmus in Hawaii. Spores were found only in the aortic bulb, characterized by elliptical capsule with two tails, and pyriform polar capsules that angled towards the anterior end of the spore. Polar filaments had 3-4 coils. Parasites were present in apparently healthy fish and caused no evident gross pathology. On microscopy, parasites evinced a mild inflammatory response in the host characterized by accumulations of eosinophilic fibrillar material around spores and a mononuclear infiltrate in the adventitia of the bulbus arteriosus. Overall prevalence was 20%, and prevalence between 2001 and 2006 ranged from 12 to 27% but did not differ significantly between years. In contrast, prevalence of infection was highest in south central Oahu. There was no relationship between infection status and body condition or gender of fish, and infection was absent in the smallest and largest fish. Phylogenetically, H. akule n. sp. is most closely related to other Henneguya species infecting the heart of marine fishes based on ribosomal DNA analysis. This is the first documentation of a myxozoan parasite in marine fish from Hawaii.
Work T, Takata G, Whipps C, Kent M.