Alataspora budegassai Afonso-Dias, Kalavati, Mackenzie & Mackenzie, 2007, n. sp.

Alataspora budegassai n. sp. (Figures 4–9)

Material studied

Host: Lophius budegassa Spinola

Site of infection: gall bladder

Localities, dates and depths: (1) 36°56ˏN, 07°38ˏW, 5 June, 2000, 250m; (2) 36°51ˏN, 08°00ˏW, 9 June, 2000, 200m; (3) 36°50ˏN, 08°58ˏW, 14 June, 2000, 250m; (4) 36°46ˏN, 08°36ˏW, 24 October, 2000, 450m; (5) 36°50ˏN, 08°30ˏW, 16 April, 2001, depth unknown (all off Algarve, southern Portugal).

Prevalence: (1) 3 of 3; (2) 1 of 1; (3) 1 of 1; (4) 1 of 1; (5) 2 of 2.

Host length range: (1) 30–36 cm; (2) 35 cm; (3) 37 cm; (4) 36 cm; (5) 70–96 cm.

Collection number: 2005:7:1:2.

Description

Trophozoite (Figure 4) irregular in shape, drifting freely in the bile. Dimensions: 28.8–60.4 (n=16) with 4–5 fine filopodia and variable numbers of nuclei.

FIGURES 4–7. Alataspora budegassai n. sp. 4. Trophozoite, stained with Giemsa. 5. Sporoblast, unstained fixed specimen. 6. Spore, sutural view, stained with Giemsa. 7. Spore, sutural view, unstained fixed specimen. Scale-bars: 10µ m

Sporoblast (Figures 5, 8, 9) disporous, roughly spindle-shaped with two long extensions, one free with a characteristic hook at the end (Figure 8), the other attached to the wall of the gall bladder with tendril-like extensions (Figure 9). Dimensions, based on 10 fixed specimens: 45.0–54.0 x 12.6–16.4.

Spore (Figures 6, 7) broad, flat and triangular in sutural view, flat and extended in valvular view. Sutural line straight, thin and distinct. Sporoplasm binucleate. Valve shells drawn out into alate membranous processes without venation adherent to posterior part of valve. Polar capsules spherical. Polar filament with 3–4 coils. Dimensions, based on 30 fixed spores, as ranges with means ± SD in parentheses: spore length 12.0– 14.4 (12.8 ± 0.7); spore width, including alate processes 86.0–159.6 (120.5 ± 20.6); spore width, excluding alate processes 32.0–39.6 (34.6 ± 2.6); diameter of polar capsule 4.6–6.4 (5.6 ± 0.5); polar capsule length: spore length = 1: 2.6–3.6; spore length: spore width = 1: 2.1–3.2.

Glyptocephalus stelleri,

Acanthopsetta nadeshnui

A. opisthocentri (Dogiel, 1948) 5.0–7.0 14.0–17.0 1.5 1.5 Opisthocentrus ocellatus Sea of Japan

A. parvicapsula Shulman, Kova- 5.9–6.4 9.7 2.0–2.5 1.5 Aulopus cadenati Atlantic Ocean off Gulf Discussion

The features that justify the inclusion of this species in the genus Alataspora are the extreme lateral elongation of the spore and the long membranous processes that adhere to the posterior edges of the valves. Of the 16 previously described species of Alataspora, A. budegassai is most similar in spore dimensions to A. africana Shulman, Kovaleva & Dubina, 1979 (Table 2). The latter species was described from the perciform fish Callanthias ruber caught off Western Sahara. The description of A. africana is brief and lacking in detail so, taking this into consideration together with the host and locality differences, we feel justified in considering our species from L. budegassa to be new. This is the first report of an Alataspora sp. from the genus Lophius, and A. budegassai appears to be unique within the genus in that in young spores the alate processes are wound around the valves. However, some of the previous descriptions of Alataspora spp. are brief and incomplete, so this feature may have been missed.

Gall bladders were missing in 37 of the 45 specimens of L. budegassa viscera obtained. All of the gall bladders examined were infected with A. budegassai.

The myxosporean genus Alataspora has been referred to erroneously as Alatospora in several publications. The name Alatospora is preoccupied by a genus of aquatic hyphomycete and the myxosporean genus was originally named as Alataspora by Shulman et al. (1979). The problem appears to have originated with the misspelling of the generic name in the otherwise admirable textbook on protozoan parasites of fishes by Lom & Dykova (1992), in which the family name Alatasporidae is also misspelled as Alatosporidae. These misspellings highlight the importance of authors checking the original descriptions of species and genera rather than blindly accepting secondary references.