Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Molecular characterization and new geographical record of Lecithochirium priacanthi (Digenea: Hemiuridae) infecting the moontail bullseye fish Priacanthus hamrur (Perciformes: Priacanthidae) from the Red Sea, Egypt

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Parasitology Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sixty specimens of the moontail bullseye Priacanthus hamrur were collected at Coasts of Suez Gulf, Red Sea (Egypt) during the four different seasons of the whole year 2014 and necropsied to study the infection with metazoan parasites. Twenty-one out of 60 examined fish specimens (infection rate of 33.33 %) were found to be naturally infected by the hemiurid digenean parasite Lecithochirium priacanthi. The large-sized fish reaching 15–30 (23.5 ± 4.8) cm were more intensively infected than the smaller ones. A definite seasonal effect was observed as winter was found to be the season of severe parasitic infections, while midsummer was the lowest one. The morphological and morphometric characterization of this parasite were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The adult worms had an elongated body measuring 1.93–2.54 (2.11 ± 0.20) mm in length and 0.61–0.72 (0.67 ± 0.02) mm in width. The body was characterized by the presence of a sub-terminal oral sucker with diameters reaching 0.12–0.16 (0.14 ± 0.02) mm. The ventral sucker measured 0.32–0.45 (0.38 ± 0.02) mm in diameter. The body was supplied by a short retracted portion with a blunt end that measured 0.48–0.61 (0.56 ± 0.02) mm in length and 0.28–0.35 (0.32 ± 0.02) mm in width. Morphological results of the present parasite were compared with other related species described previously from Perciformes. Molecular characterization based on small subunit ribosomal DNA was done to confirm the obtained morphological and morphometric results. A preliminary genetic comparison between SSU rDNA of this parasite and other species of Hemiuridae places the present specimen as a putative sister taxon to Lecithochirium grandiporum and Lecithochirium caesionis. The finding of L. priacanthi in Egyptian marine water fish represents a new geographical record for this parasite.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figs. 1–8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdel-Ghaffar F, Bashtar AR, Mehlhorn H, Abdel-Gaber R, Saleh R (2013) Morphological and molecular characterization of Lecithochirium grandiporum (Digenea: Hemiuridae) infecting the European eel Anguilla anguilla as a new host record in Egypt. Parasitol Res 112:3243–3250

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Bassel DA, Ohida A (2006) Light and TEM studies on the gills of tuna infecting with Allodidymozoon pharyngi (Didymozoid trematodes) from Libya. J Egypt Ger Soc Zool 1-13

  • Al-Zubaidy A (2010) First record of Lecithochirium sp. (Digenea: Hemiuridae) in the marine fish Carangoides bajad from the Red Sea, coast of Yemen. J KAU Mar Sci 21:85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Barson M, Avenant-Oldewage A (2006) On cestode and digenean parasites of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) from the Rietvlei Dam, South Africa, Onderstepoort. J Vet Res 73:101–110

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bartoli P, Gibson DI (2007) The status of Lecithochirium grandiporum (Rudolphi, 1819) (Digenea: Hemiuridae), a rarely reported and poorly known species from the Mediterranean moray eel Muraena helena L. in the Western Mediterranean. Syst Parasitol 68:183–194

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bartoli P, Gibson DI, Bray RA (2005) Digenean species diversity in teleost fish from a nature reserve off Corsica, France (Western Mediterranean), and a comparison with other Mediterranean regions. J Nat Hist 39:47–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer ON (1957) Diseases of carp in fish ponds in Leningrad, Velikie Luki and Novgorod oblasts. Bull. of the All-Union Sci. Res. Inst. Freshwater Fisheries 13 Parasites and Diseases of Fish, Leningrad, (1957) pp. 67-88

  • Blair D, Bray RA, Barker SC (1998) Molecules and morphology in phylogenetic studies of the Hemiuroidea (Digenea: Trematoda: Platyhelminthes). Mol Phylogenet Evol 9:15–25

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bullard SA (2010) Littorellicola billhawkinsi n. gen., n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) from the myocardial lacunae of Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus (Carangidae) in the Gulf of Mexico; with a comment on the interrelationships and functional morphology of intertrabecular aporocotylids. Parasitol Int 59:587–598

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bullard SA, Barse AM, Curran SS, Morris JA (2011) First record of a Digenean from invasive lionfish, Pterois cf. Volitans, (Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae) in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean. J Parasitol 97(5):833–837

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chandler AC (1935) Parasites of fishes in Galveston Bay. Proc U S Nat Mus 83:123–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cribb TH, Bray RA, Littlewood DTJ, Pichelin SP, Herniou EA (2001) The Digenea. In: Littlewood DTJ, Bray RA (eds) Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes. Taylor and Francis, London, pp 168–185

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Serafy SS, Awwad MH, Abdel-Hamide NAR, Azab MS (2003) Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of the small-subunit ribosomal DNA as a tool for identification of Tilapia spp. Egypt J Aquat Biol Fish 7(4):465–482

    Google Scholar 

  • Florencia AM, Silvia GE, Carla SB, Noelia G, Melisa P, Javier M, Javier S, Román U, Daniel T (2011) Digeneos parásitos de Porichthys porosissimus (Teleostei: Batrachoididae) en el estuario de bahía blanca. BioScriba 4(1):26–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Forskål P (1775) Descriptiones animalium avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium; quæ in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est materia medica Kahirina atque tabula maris rubri geographica. Pp. 1-20, I-XXXIV [=1-34], 1-164, 1 map

  • Gibson DI (2002) Superfamily Hemiuroidea, Looss 1899. In: Gibson DI, Jones A, Bray RA (eds) Keys to the Trematoda, 1st edn. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 299–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson DI, Bray RA (1979) The Hemiuroidea: terminology, systematics and evolution. Bull Br Mus Nat Hist Zool Ser 36:35–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson DI, Bray RA (1986) The Hemiuridae (Digenea) of fishes from the North-East Atlantic. Bull Br Mus Nat Hist Zool Ser 51:1–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamegai S (1973) Zoogonid trematodes from marine fishes near the Tsushima islands in the Sea of Japan. Res Bull Meg Parasitol Mus 7:19–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Tamura K, Nei M (2004) MEGA3: integrated software for molecular evolutionary genetics analysis and sequence alignment. Brief Bioinform 5:150–163

  • Looss A (1907) Zur Kenntnis der Distomenfamilie Hemiuridae. Zool Anz 31:585–620

    Google Scholar 

  • Manter HW (1940) Digenetic trematodes of fishes from the Galapagos Islands and the neighboring Pacific. The University of Southern California publications Allan Hancock pacific expeditions volume 2, number 14

  • Manter HW (1954) Some digenetic trematodes from fish of New Zealand. Trans Royal Soc N Zeal 82:475–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Morsy K, Bashtar AR, Abdel-Ghaffar F, Baksh W (2012) First record of Lecithochirium grandiporum (Digenea: Hemiuridae) infecting the lizard fish Saurida tumbil from the Red Sea. Parasitol Res 111(6):2339–2344

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neefs J, van de Peer Y, Hendriks L, de Wachter R (1990) Compilation of small ribosomal subunit RNA sequences. Nucleic Acid Res 18:2237–2242

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olson PD, Cribb TH, Tkach VV, Bray RA, Littlewood DTJ (2003) Phylogeny and classification of the Digenea (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda). Inter J Parasitol 33:733–755

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Randall JE (1995) Coastal fishes of Oman. Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd, Bathurst, p 439

  • Randall JE (2005) A review of mimicry in marine fishes. Zool Stud 44:299–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Shih HH, Liu W, Zhao ZQ (2004) Digenean fauna in marine fishes from Taiwanese water with the description of a new species Lecithochirium tetraorchis sp. nov. Zool Stud 43(4):671–676

    Google Scholar 

  • Surekha P, Lakshmi CV (2005) Lecithochirium testelobatus n. sp. (Digenea: Hemiuridae) from the lizard fish, Saurida undosquamis from Andhrapradesh Coast. J Parasitol Dis 29(2):143–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Sworfford DL (1993) PAUP: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony, version 3.1. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign

  • Testini G, Papini R, Lia RP, Parisi A, Dantas-Torres F, Traversa D, Otranto D (2011) New insights into the morphology, molecular characterization and identification of Baylisascaris transfuga (Ascaridida, Ascarididae). Vet Parasitol 175:97–102

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Timi JT, Martorelli SR, Sardella NH (1999) Digenetic trematodes parasitic on Engraulis anchoita (Pisces: Engraulidae) from Argentina and Uruguay. Folia Parasitol 46:132–138

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vilas R, Criscione CD, Blouin MS (2005) A comparison between mitochondrial DNA and the ribosomal internal transcribed regions in prospecting for cryptic species of Platyhelminthes parasites. Parasitol 131:839–846

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams H, Jones A (1994) Parasitic worms of fish. Taylor and Francis, London, p 593

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguti S (1953) Systema Helminthum part I. Digenetic Trematodes of Fishes, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguti S (1970) Digenetic trematodes of Hawaiian fish. Keigaku Publishing Co., Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguti S (1971) Synopsis of Digenetic Trematodes of Vertebrates, vols. 1 and 2. Keigaku Publishing Co, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors extend their appreciations to the Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, and to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding the work through the international research group project IRG14-23.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Fathy Abdel-Ghaffar, Rewaida Abdel-Gaber, Abdel-Rahman Bashtar, Kareem Morsy & Rehab Saleh

  2. Parasitology Institute, Düsseldorf University, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

  3. Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Saleh Al Quraishy

Authors
  1. Fathy Abdel-Ghaffar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rewaida Abdel-Gaber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Abdel-Rahman Bashtar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kareem Morsy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Saleh Al Quraishy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Rehab Saleh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Heinz Mehlhorn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fathy Abdel-Ghaffar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abdel-Ghaffar, F., Abdel-Gaber, R., Bashtar, AR. et al. Molecular characterization and new geographical record of Lecithochirium priacanthi (Digenea: Hemiuridae) infecting the moontail bullseye fish Priacanthus hamrur (Perciformes: Priacanthidae) from the Red Sea, Egypt. Parasitol Res 114, 4471–4477 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4690-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4690-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation