title: Neoparamoeba branchiphila infections in moribund sea urchins Diadema aff. antillarum in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
abstract: A total of 109 sea urchins from 3 species collected in 2 localities off the coast of Tenerife Island, Spain, were examined for the presence of free-living amoebae in their coelomic fluid. Amoeba trophozoites were isolated exclusively from moribund individuals of long-spined sea urchins Diadema aff. antillarum (Philippi) (Echinoidea, Echinodermata) that manifested lesions related to sea urchin bald disease on their tests (16 out of 56 examined). No amoebae were detected in Arbacia lixula (L.) and Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck). From the former sea urchin species, 8 strains, established from 10 primary isolates, were identified as Neoparamoeba branchiphila Dyková et al., 2005 using morphological and molecular methods. Results of this study (limited to the screening for free-living amoebae) together with data on agents of sea urchin mortalities reported to date justify the hypothesis that free-living amoebae play an opportunistic role in D. aff. antillarum mortality. The enlargement of the dataset of SSU rDNA sequences brought new insight into the phylogeny of Neoparamoeba species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branisovská 31, 370 05 Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic. iva@paru.cas.cz
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dyková
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzo-Morales
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kostka
authors.forename: Basilio
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Valladares
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pecková
mesh_terms: D056894:Amoebozoa / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D010802:Phylogeny; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000469:parasitology*; D013030:Spain