Two New Species of Epistylis (Ciliophora: Peritrichida) on the Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Two epibiotic peritrichs infested the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, from the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi, USA. Epistylis callinectes n. sp. was isolated from the epipods of maxillipeds, bases of gill-cleaning setae, and gills, and Epistylis clampi n. sp. was isolated from the exterior surfaces of the exoskeleton. Epistylis callinectes has short, symmetrically and dichotomously branched stalks; its zooid is elongate ovoid and conspicuously longer than the individual stalk branches, measuring 40-57 (49) x 18-33 (26) microm in vivo and containing a thick, undivided peristomial lip (PL). It has a single contractile vacuole and a transverse horseshoe-shaped macronucleus. Its haplokinety (H) and polykinety (Po) complete one and one-half circuits on the peristome before entering the infundibulum. There is a distal kinetal fragment present at the distal end of both the H and Po. Epistylis callinectes has 48-70 transverse silverlines from the oral area to the trochal band (TB) and 19-26 from the TB to the scopula. Epistylis clampi has long, asymmetrically, and dichotomously branched stalks. Its zooid is elongate vase-shaped, measuring 35-64 (48) x 21-30 (27) microm in vivo and with a thick, transversely folded PL. The stalks supporting zooids are unequal in length. Its zooid has a single contractile vacuole and a transverse horseshoe-shaped macronucleus occurs in the upper half of the body. Its H and Po complete approximately one circuit around the peristome before entering the infundibulum. There is a distal kinetal fragment present at the distal end of both the H and Po. This species has 71-112 transverse silverlines from the peristome to the scopula.

Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Two Freshwater Peritrich Ciliates,Epistylis chlorelligerumShen 1980 andEpistylis chrysemydisBishop and Jahn 1941 (Ciliophora, Peritrichia)

“…Vorticella and Trichodina , each of which has > 200 nominal species; the lack of adequate identification guides; and the lack of taxonomic revisions for most genera (Hu and Song ; Ji et al. ; Ma and Overstreet ; Peng et al. ; Qi et al.…”

Host-parasite relationship during Epistylis sp. (Ciliophora: Epistylididae) infestation in farmed cichlid and pimelodid fish

“…presented 8 to 58 zooids showing conical-elongated format (Figure 1 A, B, and C). The morphology was characteristic of the Epistylis genus: the peduncle was dichotomously branched and noncontractile; there was one contractile vacuole located in the zooid apical portion; the macronucleus was transverse C-shaped; and the cytoplasm was full of food vacuole (Ma & Overstreet, 2006). The peduncle of this protozoan was colonized by bacilli bacteria and occasionally by filamentous bacteria, arranged in cords (Figure 1 D).…”

“…Diseased fish were transported to the laboratory of invertebrate morphology of Universidade Estadual de São Paulo Júlio de Mesquita Filho for scraping observations of the living organisms with differential interference contrast microscopy, using an Axio Imager Z2 microscope (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). Parasite measurements were performed on living parasites, following methods normally used for this parasite (Ma & Overstreet, 2006;Kühner et al, 2016) and using the software Image Pro Plus (Media Cybernetics Inc., Rockville, MD, USA). Measurements are presented as mean±standard deviation (minimum-maximum, and number of structures measured).…”

First record of the epibiont protozoan Epistylis sp. on zooplankton (Copepoda, Cladocera, and Rotifera) from the Asi River, Turkey

“…They are often hostspecific, and restricted in their attachment sites on their hosts as well (Ma & Overstreet, 2006). Their selection and colonization of hosts, and their effects on host survival and reproduction, have been amply studied (Gilbert & Schröder, 2003).…”