Studies on the morphology and taxonomy of three new myxosporeans of the genus Sinuolinea Davis, 1917 (Myxosporea: Sinuolineidae) infecting the urinary bladder of some marine fishes from the Shandong coast, China.

Abstract

The morphology and taxonomy of three new species of myxosporeans (Myxosporea: Sinuolineidae), Sinuolinea shandongensis n. sp., S. argyrosomi n. sp. and S. platycephali n. sp., parasitising marine fishes collected from the Yellow Sea off the coast of southeast Shandong, China, were investigated. These species, including spores and plasmodia, were found in the urinary bladder of their hosts. The diagnostic features of the new species are as follows. S. shandongensis n. sp. from Nibea albiflora: monosporous and disporous plasmodia, 29-37 x 29-27 microm; spore inversely pyramidal or spherical, with smooth surface and fine, highly sinuous sutural line, 16.4+/-2.4 (15-20) x 16.1+/-1.1 (15-18) microm; two spherical polar capsules located anteriorly and conspicuously separated from each other, 4.8+/-0.3 (4.5-5.5) microm in diameter; length of polar filament 59-61 microm; coelozoic. S. argyrosomi n. sp. from Argyrosomus argentatus: monosporous plasmodium, (33-42) x (24-25) microm; spore subspherical to spherical, with smooth surface and highly sinuous sutural line, 18.1+/-1.0 (17-20) x 19.8+/-1.3 (18-22) microm; two spherical polar capsules located anteriorly and conspicuously separated from each other, 4.4+/-0.2 (4-5) microm in diameter; length of polar filament 47-50 microm; coelozoic. S. platycephali n. sp. from Platycephalus indicus: monosporous, disporous and polyporous plasmodia, 25-42 x 17-31 microm; spore spherical with smooth surface and highly sinuous sutural line, 14.5+/-0.5 (14-15) microm in diameter; two spherical polar capsules located anteriorly and conspicuously separated from each other, 4.3+/-0.2 (4-4.5) microm in diameter; coelozoic.