title: A novel myxosporean parasite Myxobolus klamathellus n. sp. (Cnidaria: Myxosporea) from native blue chub (Gila coerulea) in Klamath Lake, Oregon.
abstract: Blue chub, Gila coerulea Girard, 1856 is a freshwater cyprinid fish native to inland drainages of western North America. It has not previously been recorded as a host of any myxosporean parasite (Cnidaria: Myxosporea), despite myxosporeans being cosmopolitan in freshwater and marine fishes worldwide and sympatric with this host. Herein, we describe a novel myxosporean from subcutaneous cysts in native blue chub from Klamath Lake, Oregon. Myxospores were consistent with genus Myxobolus, being obovoid but compressed in thickness, length 14.3 ± 0.4 (13-15) μm, width 9.7 ± 0.4 (9-10) μm, thickness 7.7 ± 0.3 (7-8) μm; two polar capsules ovoid slightly dissimilar in size, length 6.4 ± 0.4 (6-7) μm, width 3.8 ± 0.3 (3-4) μm, with four (3-5) turns of the polar filament (tubule); capsule openings apical, one in each valve cell. The small subunit ribosomal DNA sequence was up to 97 % similar to Myxobolus spp. from other cyprinids from North America and Europe. Given the novel host, unique myxospore morphometrics, and DNA sequence, we describe this as Myxobolus klamathellus n. sp.
authors: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA. atkinsos@oregonstate.edu.
authors: Stephen Douglas
authors: SD
authors: Atkinson
authors: Fish Health Services, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
authors: Craig Randall
authors: CR
authors: Banner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003530:Cyprinidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D055766:Myxobolus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009922:Oregon / Q000453:epidemiology; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Blue chub; Gila coerulea; Klamath Lake; Myxobolus; Myxosporea; Myxosporean parasite