Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T10:13:17.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unusual haemogregarines parasitizing intertidal teleosts from the subtropical east coast of South Africa, with the description of Haemogregarina kunegemina sp. nov.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2012

Maryke L. Ferreira ,
Nico J. Smit  and
Angela J. Davies
Maryke L. Ferreira
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
Nico J. Smit*
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences and Development, North West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa
Angela J. Davies
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2EE, United Kingdom
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N.J. Smit, School of Environmental Sciences and Development, North West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa email: nico.smit@nwu.ac.za
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Of three intertidal fish species collected on the east coast of South Africa, 67% (127/190) had haemogregarine infections. Horned rockskippers, Antennablennius bifilum Günther, 1861, demonstrated 77% parasite prevalence, maned blennies, Scartella emarginata Günther, 1861, 53% prevalence, and a single specimen of the hotlips triplefin, Helcogramma obtusirostre Klunzinger, 1871, was also parasitized. Less than 1% of A. bifilum and S. emarginata erythrocytes were infected, but ~2% of those of H. obtusirostre. Haemogregarines in A. bifilum and S. emarginata were morphologically similar to H. bigemina Laveran & Mesnil, 1901, but uncharacteristic clusters of four merozoites were observed in S. emarginata and paired gamonts were smaller overall than those of the type species, although close in size to H. bigemina reported elsewhere. Intraerythrocytic gamonts in H. obtusirostre, occurred mainly in fours, a characteristic of the European species originally named H. quadrigemina Brumpt & Lebailly, 1904. Additionally however, this South African species infrequently demonstrated eight intraerythrocytic gamonts and host cells commonly had spiny perimeters and were de-haemoglobulinized. Owing to the differences observed, this species is described as new to science and named Haemogregarina kunegemina sp. nov. Possible haemogregarine developmental stages were found in first and second stage pranizae of the gnathiid isopod, Gnathia pilosus Hadfield, Smit & Avenant-Oldewage, 2008, that had fed on the three fish hosts. These are the first reports of haemogregarines from teleosts of the subtropical east coast of South Africa.

Keywords

haemogregarinesintertidal fishSouth Africafish blood protozoansgnathiid isopodsHaemogregarina bigeminaHaemogregarina kunegeminaGnathia pilosusBlenniidaeTriptrygiidae
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 92 , Issue 5 , August 2012 , pp. 1209 - 1215
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Branch, G.M., Griffiths, C.L., Branch, M.L. and Becckley, L.E. (2002) Two Oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.Google Scholar
Brumpt, E. and Lebailly, C. (1904) Description de quelques nouvelles espèces de trypanosomes et d'hémogrégarines parasites des téléostéens marins. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 139, 613–619.Google Scholar
Chanseau, M., Bosc, S., Galiay, E. and Oules, G. (2002) L'utilisation de l'huile de clou de girofle comme anesthésique pour les smolts de saumon Atlantique (Salmo salar L.) et comparaison de ses effets avec ceux du 2-phénoxyethanol. Bulletin Français de la Pêche et de la Pisciculture 356/366, 579–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, A.J. (1995) Studies on the gut flora of the haematophagous fish parasite Gnathia maxillaris Montagu. Bulletin of the European Association of Fish Pathologists 15, 32–35.Google Scholar
Davies, A.J. and Smit, N.J. (2001) The life cycle of Haemogregarina bigemina (Adeleina: Haemogregarinidae) in South African hosts. Folia Parasitologica 48, 169–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, A.J. and Johnston, M.R.L. (2000) The biology of some intraerythrocytic parasites of fishes, amphibian and reptiles. Advances in Parasitology 45, 1–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, A.J., Smit, N.J., Hayes, P.M., Seddon, A.M. and Wertheim, D. (2004) Haemogregarina bigemina (Protozoa: Apicomplexa: Adeleorina)—past, present and future. Folia Parasitologica 51, 99–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, S.P. (2000) The use of clove oil as an anaesthetic and method for sampling intertidal rockpool fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 57, 1453–1464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadfield, K.A., Smit, N.J. and Avenant-Oldewage, A. (2008) Gnathia pilosus sp. nov. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae) from the east coast of South Africa. Zootaxa 1894, 23–41.Google Scholar
Hayes, P.M., Smit, N.J., Seddon, A.M., Wertheim, D.F. and Davies, A.J. (2006) A new fish haemogregarine from South Africa and its suspected dual transmission with trypanosomes by a marine leech. Folia Parasitologica 53, 241–248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laveran, A. and Mesnil, F. (1901) Deux hémogrégarines nouvelles des poissons. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris 133, 572–577.Google Scholar
Laird, M. (1953) The protozoa of New Zealand intertidal zone fishes. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 81, 79–143 (In Part).Google Scholar
Neumann, R.O. (1909) Studien fiber protozoische blutparasiten im blut von meeresfischen. Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infectionskrankheiten (Leipzig) 64, 1–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siddall, M.E. (1995) Phylogeny of adeleid blood parasites with a partial systematic revision of the haemogregarine complex. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 42, 116–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smit, N.J. and Davies, A.J. (1999) New host records for Haemogregarina bigemina from the coast of southern Africa. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 79, 933–935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J. and Davies, A.J. (2001) An encapsulated haemogregarine from the evil eye pufferfish in South Africa. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 81, 751–754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J. and Davies, A.J. (2005) Intraerythrocytic merogony in the development of Haemogregarina koppiensis (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Haemogregarinidae). Folia Parasitologica 52, 277–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J. and Davies, A.J. (2006) Desseria zei sp. nov. (Adeleorina: Haemogregarinidae) infecting Zeus capensis from deep waters off the south and west coast of South Africa. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 86, 1477–1480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J., Eiras, J.C., Ranzani-Paiva, M.J.T. and Davies, A.J. (2002) A Desseria sp. from flathead mullet in South Africa. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 82, 675–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J., Grutter, A.S., Adlard, R.D. and Davies, A.J. (2006) Hematozoa of teleosts from Lizard Island, Australia, with some comments on their possible mode of transmission and the description of a new hemogregarine species. Journal of Parasitology 92, 778–788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, M. and Heemstra, P.C. (1995) Smith's sea fishes. Johannesburg: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar