Calyptospora sp. in Brachyplatystoma vaillantii (Valenciennes, 1840) captured in salvaterra, Pará state, Brazil

Abstract

Coccidia of the Calyptosporidae family are parasites that infect a wide range of fish and aquatic invertebrates. Currently, the Calyptosporidae family is represented by species with a heteroxenic cycle, that is, they can infect more than one host, alternating between vertebrates and the definitive host, the fish. Currently, the diversity of species in the genus Calyptospora has been little investigated, which makes it difficult to understand the distribution and prevalence of infection of this group of microparasites in fish. In the present study, thirty specimens of the Brachyplatystoma vaillantii species, from the Paracauari River, in Salvaterra, Marajó Island, were examined. Of the total number of fish examined, 12 fish, 40% of the total, were parasitized by several mature and immature oocysts in the liver, each containing three to four ellipsoidal sporocysts. General morphology of the spores is characteristic of the genus Calyptospora.