The marine herring myxozoan Ceratomyxa auerbachi (Myxozoa: Ceratomyxidae) uses Chone infundibuliformis (Annelida: Polychaeta: Sabellidae) as invertebrate host

Abstract

Sequencing of SSU rDNA showed that actinospores of the tetractinomyxon type, which develop in Chone infundibuliformis Krøyer (Annelida, Polychaeta, Sabellidae) from the northern Øresund, Denmark, are identical with Ceratomyxa auerbachi Kabata, 1962 (Myxozoa, Ceratomyxidae). This myxosporean was found in the gallbladder of the Atlantic herring Clupea harengus L. from the northern Øresund, Denmark, and from the Bergen area, western Norway. The pansporocysts and actinospores of C. auerbachi are described. This is the third elucidated two-host life cycle of a marine myxozoan, and the first involving a marine ceratomyxid.