Identification of a new species, Unicapsula aequilobata n. sp., and Unicapsula seriolae (Myxozoa: Myxosporea: Multivalvulida) in carangid fish from the South China Sea

Ken Inoue, Ying Chun Li, Subarna Ghosh, Muchammad Yunus, Jin Yong Zhang, Hiroshi Sato

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An examination of 18 fishes caught in the South China Sea detected two Unicapsula spp. in the myofibers of the trunk muscles of carangid fishes: Unicapsula aequilobata n. sp. in the Japanese scad, Decapterus maruadsi, and Unicapsula seriolae in the yellowstripe scad, Selaroides leptolepis. They formed thin filamentous pseudocysts of 0.9–2.0 (mean 1.4) mm by 0.03–0.06 (0.04) mm (n = 5) and 0.9–3.4 (2.1) mm by 0.02–0.05 (0.04) mm (n = 12), respectively. Myxospores of U. aequilobata n. sp. are composed of three equal shell valves and measured 6.7–8.5 (7.3) μm in length and 7.1–8.8 (7.6) μm in width, and contained a prominent polar capsule (PC) 3.2–3.8 (3.6) μm in diameter (n = 18) and two rudimentary PCs. A nucleotide sequence (5127 bp) of the ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) array was obtained for the genetic characterization of this new species. Based on morphological and phylogenetic criteria, we erect U. aequilobata n. sp. as the sixteenth species in the genus Unicapsula. Nucleotide sequences of the 18S and 28S rDNA obtained from U. seriolae from the yellowstripe scad were almost identical (99.6–100% or 99.0–99.6%, respectively) to those from fish found in the seawaters around Australia and Japan. Consequently, this is a new host and geographical distribution records for U. seriolae. In addition, we illustrated the predicted secondary structure of the available 5.8S rDNA sequences of multivalvulid species, including those obtained from U. aequilobata n. sp., to assess the significance of interspecific nucleotide variations in this short rDNA unit.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2379-2389
Number of pages11
JournalParasitology Research
Volume120
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2021

Keywords

  • Carangidae
  • Integrated taxonomic approach
  • Multivalvulidae
  • Myxosporea
  • Myxozoa
  • South China Sea
  • Unicapsula

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