Endoparasitic Dinoflagellate of the Genus Ichthyodinium Infecting Fertilized Eggs and Hatched Larvae Observed in the Seed Production of Leopard Coral Grouper Plectropomus leopardus

Abstract

Since 1990, mass mortality of fertilized eggs and hatched larvae of the leopard coral grouper Plectropomus leopardus has occurred repeatedly during its seed production in Okinawa Prefecture. A hitherto unknown protozoan parasite multiplied in the yolk sac in great numbers. The yolk sac of fertilized eggs and hatched larvae eventually burst and parasites were released to sea water. The development of the parasite was briefly described, which is very similar to that of the dinoflagellate Ichthyodinium chabelardi, known to infect yolk of several marine fish larvae in Europe. Based on the similarities of, and minor differences in, the mode of infection, development and SSU rDNA sequence, the parasite is tentatively designated as Ichthyodinium sp. PL (= PL for the abbreviated form of the scientific name for the host). Although the life cycle of the parasite is unknown, the disease outbreak was controlled by rearing the broodstock and incubating fertilized eggs in oxidant-treated seawater. The PCR diagnosis using specific primers designed from part of SSU rDNA sequence of the parasite revealed that disease outbreaks in different years were caused by a single species of parasite. This is the first report of Ichthyodinium infection in tropical fish from the Asia-Pacific region.