The life cycle of Ortholinea auratae (Myxozoa: Ortholineidae) involves an actinospore of the triactinomyxon morphotype infecting a marine oligochaete

Abstract

Actinospores released from the marine oligochaete Limnodriloides agnes inhabiting a Southern Portuguese fish farm are molecularly recognized as developmental stages of the life cycle of Ortholinea auratae, a myxosporean parasite that infects the urinary bladder of Sparus aurata. The molecular analysis of the 18S rRNA gene reveals a similarity of 99.9 to 100 % of the actinospores analyzed to the myxospores of O. auratae. The actinospores belong to the triactinomyxon morphotype and occur in groups of eight within pansporocysts that develop in the intestinal epithelium of the oligochaete host. This is the first record of a myxosporean using an oligochaete as its invertebrate host in the marine environment.