Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg, 1957 is a major pathogen of wild Salmo salar L. parr populations in Norway, and its delimitation from non-pathogenic species is important. The present study was undertaken to test the power of chaetotaxy to differentiate between three populations belonging to both the same and different clades (as stated by mtDNA) of G. salaris, in addition to three different species of gyrodactylids (G. salaris, G. thymalli and G. caledoniensis). The gyrodactylids were processed for chaetotaxy in situ and a maximum of 50 specimens per collection site were used to construct a generalised map over the sensilla. The sensilla were found in all populations to be symmetrically distributed around the median longitudinal axis, according to a formula of 7 dorsal (34 sensilla) and 8 ventral (44 sensilla) clusters on each side of the median line. The three Norwegian populations of G. salaris were found identical, as were the population of G. thymalli. The specimens of G. caledoniensis from Scotland, however, were found to differ from the Norwegian species G. salaris and G. thymalli by the position of one sensillum in two of the clusters. A comparison of the sensillum pattern of laboratory maintained G. salaris (River Lierelva) with results obtained ten years earlier, questions the temporal stability of the chaetotaxy pattern. The present results indicate that chaetotaxy can be used to discriminate between certain Gyrodactylus spp. but not generally.
In natural European waters, the congeneric monogeneans Gyrodactylus derjavini Mikailov, 1975 and G. salaris Malmberg, 1957 are primarily found on brown trout Salmo trutta L. and Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L., respectively. Interestingly, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), originating from North America, is as susceptible as brown trout to G. derjavini. However, the mechanisms involved in this host specificity are poorly understood but may include behavioural, mechanical and chemical factors affecting parasite attraction, attachment, feeding, reproduction and host responses. In the present laboratory work, this question has been studied. Detached parasites (either G. derjavini or G. salaris) were offered a choice in small aquaria between fry of rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon and carp Cyprinus carpio L. Within 48 hours more than 90% of G. derjavini colonised rainbow trout and left salmon almost uninfected. Some parasites were found on carp. During the same time span, more than 60% of G. salaris attached to salmon, the rest infected rainbow trout and none were found on carp. Following attachment, the parasites need appropriate stimuli to initiate feeding and reproduction but even such a successful specific colonisation can be followed by a host response. Both humoral and cellular elements have been suggested to participate in these reactions but in the present work it was demonstrated by immunoblotting and immunocytochemistry that no antibodies in host mucus and host plasma bound to any parasite structures or epitopes.
everal myxosporean parasites are of importance in fisheries and aquaculture in British Columbia. The PKX organism and Ceratomyxa shasta Noble, 1950 cause disease and mortality, Kudoa thyrsiles (Gilchrist, 1924) and Henneguya salminicola Ward, 1919 are of importance because they infect somatic muscle, cause unsightly cysts and soft flesh, and thus reduce the market value of the fish. Myxobolus arcticus Pugachev et Khokhlov, 1979, an apparently non-pathogenic species, along with H. salminicola, is used as a biological tag in fishery management. Myxobolus arcticus has also been used in our laboratory as a model for the study of myxosporean life cycles. Other myxosporeans that have been found in salmonids in British Columbia include Myxobolus squamalis (Iverson, 1954), Myxobolus insidiosus Wyatt et Pratt, 1963, Myxidium truitae Léger, 1930, Myxidium salvelini Shuhnan et Konovalov, 1966, Chloromyxum sp., ľarvicapsula sp., and Sphaerospora sp.
Extrasporogonic stages of Sphaerospora sp. from the kidneys of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) were successfully transmitted via intra-peritoneal injection to naive Atlantic salmon and brown trout (Salmo trutta L.). Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum) could not be infected in this way. Transmitted extrasporogonic stages continued their development to form sporogonie stages and mature spores in the kidney tubules. Extrasporogonic stages, sporogonie stages and mature spores of the parasite in both experimentally infected hosts were morphologically identical to the equivalent stage in naturally infected Atlantic salmon, although minor differences were seen in spore dimensions. A farm-based exposure experiment confirmed the susceptibility of brown trout to the salmon Sphaerospora, These results are consistent with the view that the salmon Sphaerospora is Sphaerospora truttae Fischer-Scherl, El-Matbouli et Hoffmann, 1986. The parasite is redescribed according to the guidelines of Lom and Arthur (1989) since details of extrasporogonie stages, the ultrastructure of extrasporogonic and sporogonie stage development, and of the parasite’s epidemiology are known from Atlantic salmon but not from other reports.