Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

New philometrids (Nematoda, Philometridae) from head tissues of two serranid fishes (Epinephelus morio and Mycteroperca microlepis) off Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico

  • Published:
Acta Parasitologica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A new species of nematode, Philometra morii sp. nov. (Philometridae), is described from males and gravid females collected from the mouth cavity of the red grouper, Epinephelus morio (Valenciennes) (Serranidae, Perciformes), from the northen Gulf of Mexico, off Florida, USA. The new species is characterized mainly by the length of spicules (84–90 and 72–87 μm) and the length (54 μm) and structure of the gubernaculum in the male, and by the presence of three large oesophageal teeth protruding from the mouth, the number and arrangement of small cephalic papillae (8 papillae in 4 pairs of external circle and 6 single papillae of internal circle), the length (1.09–1.50 mm) and structure of the oesophagus and two large papilla-like caudal projections, and by the length of their bodies (19.34–30.07 mm). Philometra morii is the third species of this genus reported from E. morio in the Gulf of Mexico, differing from the two previously described species, in addition to morphological features, by the site of infection in this host (mouth cavity and sinuses vs oculo-orbits or gonads). From the same region (northern Gulf of Mexico, off Florida), gravid females of Philometra Costa, 1845, morphologically and biometrically similar to those of P. morii, were found in the subcutaneous tissues and sinuses of the head of another serranid fish (gag), Mycteroperca microlepis (Good et Bean). Although their conspecificity with P. morii cannot be excluded, they have been designated as Philometra sp. until conspecific males are discovered and described. Based on light and scanning electron microscopy examination (latter used only for females), both these forms are described.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bullock L.H., Smith G.B. 1991. Seabasses (Pisces: Serranidae). Memoirs of the Hourglass Cruises, 8, 1–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caspeta-Mandujano J.M., Granados Ramírez J.G., Peralta-Rodríguez J.L. 2009. A new philometrid species (Nematoda) from the freshwater fish Cichlasoma istlanum (Jordan and Snyder, 1899) (Cichlidae) in Mexico. Journal of Parasitology, 95, 403–406. DOI: 10.1645/GE-1768.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Froese R., Pauly D. (Eds.) 2010. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version April/2010.

  • Heemstra P.C., Anderson W.D., Jr., Lobel P.S. 2002. Groupers (seabasses, creolefish, coney, hinds, hamlets, anthiines, and soapfishes). In: (Ed. K.E. Carpenter) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, pp. 1308–1369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F. 1994. Parasitic nematodes of freshwater fishes of Europe. Academia and Kluwer Academic Publishers, Prague and Dordrecht, Boston, London, 473 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F. 2006. Dracunculoid and anguillicoloid nematodes parasitic in vertebrates. Academia, Prague, 634 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Bakenhaster M. 2010a. Philometrid nematodes infecting fishes from the Everglades National Park, Florida, USA, with description of two new species. Folia Parasitologica, 57, 213–222.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Bakenhaster M. 2010b. A new species of Philometra (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the sand perch Diplectrum formosum (Serranidae) off Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Parasitology, 96, 987–992. DOI: 10.1645/GE-2487.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Charo-Karisa H., Jirků M. 2009c. Philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) from fishes of Lake Turkana, Kenya, including two new species of Philometra and erection of Afrophilometra gen. n. Folia Parasitologica, 56, 41–54.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Crosby M.D., de Buron I., González-Solís D., Roumillat W.A. 2008a. Three new species of philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) from centrarchid fishes in the USA. Journal of Parasitology, 94, 1103–1113. DOI: 10.1645/GE-1523.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., de Buron I. 2009a. New data on three gonad-infecting species of Philometra (Nematoda, Philometridae) from estuarine fishes in South Carolina, USA. Acta Parasitologica, 54, 244–252. DOI: 10.2478/s11686-009-0030-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., de Buron I. 2009b. Two new species of philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) from marine fishes off South Carolina. Journal of Parasitology, 95, 722–727. DOI: 10.1645/GE-1866.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., de Buron I., Baker T.G., González-Solís D. 2008b. Some gonad-infecting species of Philometra (Nematoda, Philome tridae) from offshore fishes of South Carolina and Georgia, USA, including Philometra charlestonensis sp. nov. from the scamp Mycteroperca phenax. Acta Parasitologica, 53, 382–391. DOI: 10.2478/s11686-008-0049-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Dyková I., de Buron I. 2009a. Female morphology of Philometra rubra (Nematoda: Philometridae), a parasite of the abdominal cavity of the striped sea-bass Morone saxatilis (Moronidae, Perciformes) in the USA. Folia Parasitologica, 56, 64–66.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Fajer-Avila E.J., Bakenhaster M. 2009b. Philometra floridensis sp. n. (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the ovary of red drum Sciaenops ocellatus (Osteichthyes: Sciaenidae) off the coast of Florida, USA. Journal of Helminthology, 84, 49–54. DOI: 10.1017/S0022149X09990290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Gaglio G., Panebianco A., Giannetto S. 2008c. Two species of Philometra (Nematoda: Philometridae) from sparid fishes (porgies) off Sicily, Italy, including Philometra obladae sp. in. from the body cavity of Oblada melanura (Sparidae). Parasitology Research, 104, 55–61. DOI: 10.1007/s00436-008-1158-2.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Justine J.-L. 2008. Some philometrid nematodes (Philometridae), including four new species of Philometra, from marine fishes off New Caledonia. Acta Parasitologica, 53, 369–381. DOI: 10.2478/s11686-008-0050-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Justine J.-L. 2009. New data on dracunculoid nematodes from fishes off New Caledonia, including four new species of Philometra (Philometridae) and Ichthyofilaria (Guyanemidae). Folia Parasitologica, 56, 129–142.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Lorber J., Konečný R. 2007. Two new species of parasitic nematodes from the dogtooth tuna Gymnosarda unicolor (Pisces) off the Maldive Islands. Journal of Parasitology, 93, 171–178. DOI: 10.1645/GE-965R.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Rohde K. 1992. Three species of nematodes of the superfamily Dracunculoidea from Australian fishes. Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemoslovacae, 56, 187–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Salgado-Maldonado G. 2007. A new species of Philometra (Nematoda, Philometridae) from the gonads of the rock hind Epinephelus adscensionis (Osteichthyes) from the southern Gulf of Mexico. Acta Parasitologica, 52, 376–381. DOI: 10.2478/s11686-007-0044-x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Vidal-Martínez V.M., Aguirre-Macedo L. 1995. Philometra margolisi n. sp. (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the gonads of the red grouper, Epinephelus morio (Pisces: Serranidae), in Mexico. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 52(Suppl. 1), 161–165. DOI: 10.1139/f95-016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Vidal-Martínez V.M., Aguirre-Macedo M.L., González-Solís D. 2001. First description of the male and redescription of the female of Philometra salgadoi Vidal-Martínez et al., 1995 (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the ocular cavity of the marine fish Epinephelus morio in Mexico. Parasitology Research, 87, 526–529.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F., Vidal-Martínez V.M., Vargas-Vázquez J., Vivas-Rodríguez C., González-Solís D., Mendoza-Franco E., Simá-Alvarez R., Güemez-Ricalde J. 1997. Helminth parasites of Epinephelus morio (Pisces: Serranidae) of the Yucatan Peninsula, southeastern Mexico. Folia Parasitologica, 44, 255–266.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • National Marine Fisheries Service 2010. Fisheries Statistics Division (ST1), http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/index.html, February 2010.

  • Petter A.-J., RadujkoviĆ B.M. 1989. Parasites des poissons marins du Montenegro: Nematodes. Acta Adriatica, 30, 195–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quiazon K.M.A., Yoshinaga T., Ogawa K. 2008a. Taxonomical study into two new species of Philometra (Nematoda: Philometridae) previously identified as Philometra lateolabracis (Yamaguti, 1935). Folia Parasitologica, 55, 29–41.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Quiazon K.M.A., Yoshinaga T., Ogawa K. 2008b. Philometra sawara sp. n. and a redescription of Philometra sciaenae Yamaguti, 1941 and Philometra nemipteri Luo, 2001 (Nematoda: Philometridae): a morphological and molecular approach. Folia Parasitologica, 55, 277–290.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rasheed S. 1963. A revision of the genus Philometra Costa, 1845. Journal of Helminthology, 37, 89–130.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sakaguchi S., Yamagata Y., Sako H. 1987. Reidentification of Philometra parasitic on the Red Sea bream. Bulletin of the National Research Institute of Aquaculture, 12, 69–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos C.P., Moravec F. 2009. Tissue-dwelling philometrid nematodes of the fish Arapaima gigas in Brazil. Journal of Helminthology, 83, 295–301. DOI: 10.1017/S0022149X09224163.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vasilkov G.V. 1967. Pathogenicity and symptoms of philometroidosis in carp. Byuletin Vsesoyuznogo Instituta Eksperimentalnoy Veterinarii, 20, 45–46 (In Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidal-Martínez V.M., Aguirre-Macedo M.L., Moravec F. 1995. Philometra (Ranjhinema) salgadoi n. sp. (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the ocular cavity of the red grouper Epinephelus morio (Pisces: Serranidae) from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Journal of Parasitology, 81, 763–766.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vismanis K.O., Nikulina V.N. 1968. On taxonomic status of Philometra sanguinea (Rudolphi, 1819) (Nematoda, Dracunculidae), the causative agent of philometrosis in crucian carps. Parazitologiya, 2, 514–518 (In Russian).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, 370 05, Českě Budějovice, Czech Republic

    František Moravec

  2. Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 100 Eighth Avenue Southeast, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33701, USA

    Micah Bakenhaster

  3. Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A. C., Unidad Mazatlán en Acuicultura y Manejo Ambiental, Av. Sábalo Cerritos s/n, C.P. 82010, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

    Emma Josefina Fajer-Avila

Authors
  1. František Moravec
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Micah Bakenhaster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Emma Josefina Fajer-Avila
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to František Moravec.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moravec, F., Bakenhaster, M. & Fajer-Avila, E.J. New philometrids (Nematoda, Philometridae) from head tissues of two serranid fishes (Epinephelus morio and Mycteroperca microlepis) off Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico. Acta Parasit. 55, 359–368 (2010). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-010-0057-8

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-010-0057-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation