An Investigation into Marine Ciliates with Establishment of a New Genus, Phyllopharyngean americana Nov. Gen., Nov. Spec

• Published in: Asian journal of animal and veterinary advances Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 663 - 669
• Main Authors: Fahmy, Magdy Mostafa, Mahmoud, Nisreen Ezz El-Din, El-Dakhly, Khaled Mohamed, Khattab, Mona, Yanai, Tokuma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 15-06-2013
• Subjects: Cyrtophorida; Marine; Morone saxatilis; ANW, USA, Chesapeake Bay; ANW, USA, Maryland
• ISSN: 1683-9919
• DOI: 10.3923/ajava.2013.663.669

Marine fish contain a large diversity of parasitic ciliates. Among those, cyrtophorids constitute large populations and many species of these ciliates have not been yet identified. Therefore, morphology and infraciliature of a new marine cyrtophorid ciliate, Phyllopharyjigean americana g. nov. sp. nov., which was isolated from the skin and gills of striped bass and the gills of white perch fish collected from the Chesapeake bay, Maryland, USA. Fish were collected and ciliates were isolated and examined using the protargol silver impregnation technique. The ciliate was characterized by burrowing motion of the live specimens, reniform shape and measured 30.2x22.9 (18-41x14-30) mu m in vivo. The right side was ciliated and convex, while the left one was almost straight. There were 10 ridges on the dorsal surface and nine to eleven right ventral somatic kineties curved anteriorly. Two ovoid macronuclei and a single micronucleus were present. Two contractile vacuole pores detected between the second and the third right kineties and short transverse fibers deriving from the left kineties towards the middle of the body were present. Morphogenetic observations revealed cystic and precystic stages in the infected fish. It is concluded that, these data provide an evidence for the taxonomic placement of Phyllopharyngean americana as a new genus (nov. g.) and new species (nov. sp.) in the Cyrtophorida.