Nodular coccidiosis of the pikeperch Stizostedion lucioperca and Volga perch Stizostedion volgensis

Abstract

In early spring, coccidiosis often develops in the gut of pikeperch Stizostedion lucioperca and Volga perch S. volgensis living in Lake Balaton. Hungary. Gamonts and oocysts cause nodular infection of enterocytes in specific portions of the gut. Besides those present in the nodules, merozoites and gamonts occur diffusely in the epithelium of the intestine and the pyloric sacs. The different developmental stages are located in the apical cytoplasm of enterocytes and are released from the cells in unsporulated condition. The sporulation of oocysts takes 48 h in tap-water at 20°C. The oocysts, which are 13-13.5 pm in diameter in an unsporulated state, grow to 17-20 pm by the end of the sporulation process, and ellipsoidal sporocysts composed of 2 valves and containing banana-shaped sporozoites develop In them. On the basis of oocysts derived from p~keperch, the parasite is described as Goussia dessen n. sp.

Seasonal intestinal coccidiosis in wild bluegill Lepomis macrochirus is associated with a spring bacterial epizootic

“…Heavy infections in late winter/early spring were caused by two species, G. washuti n. sp. with epicellular development and a nodular‐developing species, resembling previous descriptions of G. desseri from freshwater lakes in Europe (Molnár, ). The seasonal cycle of development for epicellular and nodular coccidia has been previously described (Marincek, ; Molnár, ) and reported for G. desseri (Molnár, ).…”

“…This could be attributed to the later sampling when water temperature was warmer (16°C) which may have resulted in clearing of the parasite. This is supported by the findings of Molnár (, ) that showed epicellular and nodular coccidial infections clear quickly in the spring and that G. desseri development occurred at cooler temperatures, between 4°C and 10°C. The early spring development of the epicellular and nodular coccidia seen in this study is also like that reported by Molnár () in infections of white bream.…”

“…Goussia desseri was previously reported only from freshwater lakes in Hungary in percid fishes limited to the genus Sander (Molnár, ). Despite the distant geography and the different hosts, the close genetic identity of the 18S rDNA (99.9% representing 2 nucleotide differences) and conserved morphology of the parasite support that this is the same or very closely related species.…”

“…For example, two forms of intestinal coccidia are known to sporulate exogenously. These are defined as nodular species, which form within epithelial tissues within focal aggregations, and epicellular species, which develop in an apical location of enterocytes throughout the intestinal epithelium (Molnár, 1989(Molnár, , 1996. A third type of coccidia sporulates endogenously and is found dispersed throughout the basal portion of the intestinal epithelium (Molnár, Avenant-Oldewage, & Székely, 2004).…”

Epicellular and nodular coccidiosis in the intestine of barbel Barbus barbus

“…The nodular coccidiosis observed in barbel by the present author resembles the lesions caused by Goussia subepithelialis in the common carp (Moroff & Fiebiger 1905, Schaperclaus 1943, 1954, Marincek 1973, but it also bears resemblance to the nodular coccidiosis described in tench and white bream (Molnar 1982(Molnar , 1989 as well as in pikeperch (Molnar 1996) in that the stages of the coccidium develop in circumscribed areas of the gut epithelium, and all species develop according to a 1 yr cycle. The tissue changes occurring in the gut bear a closer resemblance to the lesions caused by G. subepithelialis in common carp than to the direct expulsion observed by Molnar (1982) in tench.…”