Abstract
The genus Dermocystidium is very comprehensive in the host and site of infection, however this is the first report of the occurrence of Dermocystidium sp. in the gills of Nile tilapia. This study was carried out in a fish farming located in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. No mortalities were reported in the facility studied and the animals were clinically healthy. During the histopathological analysis of the gills, 8.33% of the fish presented spores of Dermocystidium sp. in the gill tissue. The spores reported herein had a mean length and width of 6.206 x 5.233 μm and a refractile body diameter of 1.965 μm and were studied by histopathology and Transmission Electron Microscopy. This study highlights the importance of a new branchial pathogen in farmed tilapia, as well as to its pathogenic potential, considering the outbreaks of mortalities associated with other fish species.
Highlights
The genus Dermocystidium comprises pathogens of the order Dermocistida, class Ichthyosporea (Langenmayer et al 2015)
In Brazil, this pathogen was reported by Eiras and Silva-Souza (2000) in Trichomycterus sp., and more recently by Fujimoto et al (2017) in cultures of hybrid fish tambatinga; this is the first report of Dermocystidium sp. infecting gills of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The authors report that it is difficult to compare the size of the spores, the shape and stage of development of the cysts, and the lack of sufficient data for the studied fish species (Feist et al 2004)
Summary
The genus Dermocystidium comprises pathogens of the order Dermocistida, class Ichthyosporea (Langenmayer et al 2015). Numerous different species of Dermocystidium have been described, infecting a variety of fish and producing gill infections, skin lesions and visceral diseases worldwide (Feist et al 2004, Zhang and Wang 2005). Among the main species of fish of interest to aquaculture that have been affected by Dermocystidium spp., is the common carp with Dermocystidium koi 1950), Dermocystidium cyprini (Cervinka et al 1974, Lotman et al 2000), rainbow trout with Dermocystidium macrophagi (Van de Moer et al 1987), common perch with Dermocystidium percae (Pekkarinen and Lotman 2003), several salmonids with Dermocystidium salmonis (Olson et al 1991, Olson and Holt 1995), kinguio, catfish and Nile tilapia with unidentified species of Dermocystidium spp. Gill infection by Dermocystidium is pathogenic and causes mortality in farmed salmonids (Olson et al 1991), carps (Cervinka et al 1974) and eels In Brazil, this pathogen was reported by Eiras and Silva-Souza (2000) in Trichomycterus sp., and more recently by Fujimoto et al (2017) in cultures of hybrid fish tambatinga; this is the first report of Dermocystidium sp. infecting gills of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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