Abstract
This study reports the occurrence of parasites belonging to the Hepatozoon genus in fish Hoplias aimara from the Eastern Amazon. Fish (n = 54) were sampled from the Falsino River, located in the Amapá National Forest (FLONA), in the state of Amapá, northern Brazil. Fresh liver preparations were examined in the field between a slide and a coverslip under a light microscope. Cysts containing Hepatozoon cystozoites were observed in the liver of 5 (9%) out of 54 H. aimara individuals. The cysts were ovoid (mean dimensions 10.28 × 9.8 μm), presenting up to four elongated cystozoites (mean dimensions 11.04 × 1.68 μm), containing 1 to 4 residual bodies of different sizes. A single liver sample containing cysts was submitted to DNA extraction and PCR analyses based on a fragment of the 18S rRNA gene. The sequencing revealed a 465 bp fragment exhibiting 99% query coverage, 0.0 E-value, and 98.7% identity with Hepatozoon caimani (MF322538 and MF322539), detected in caimans (Caiman yacare) from Brazil. This is the first report of the occurrence of cysts containing Hepatozoon cystozoites in free-living fishes.
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30 April 2022
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Adriane Ramires for her excellent work in editing the figures.
Funding
The present study was financed partly by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq Universal 429.132/2016–6 to LAV). MRA is a fellowship receiver of CNPq (Productivity Grant-CNPq Process #302420/2017–7).
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All the procedures involving animals in the present study were approved by the ethics committee on animal use of the Universidade Federal do Amapá (Federal University of Amapá) (protocol number 018/2019), and the fish sampling and access to genetic data were authorized by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (SISBIO number 70296–2 and SISGEN ACAB8EB, respectively).
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Cardoso, W.A., Perles, L., Picelli, A.M. et al. Hepatozoon parasites (Apicomplexa: Hepatozoidae) in fish Hoplias aimara (Characiformes, Erythrinidae) from the Eastern Amazon, Brazil. Parasitol Res 121, 1041–1046 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07462-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07462-2