Abstract
Specimens of the fishes Acanthopagrus bifasciatus Forsskål (Sparidae) and Siganus rivulatus Forsskål (Siganidae) were caught in the Red Sea off the coast of Rabigh, Saudi Arabia. Four (25%) and 24 (80%) of these fishes, respectively, were found to harbour intestinal helminths. Acanthopagrus bifasciatus was parasitised by Neowardula brayi gen. nov., sp. nov. (Trematoda: Mesometridae) and S. rivulatus by Sclerocollum saudii sp. nov. (Acanthocephala: Cavisomidae). Neowardula brayi gen. nov. is similar to Wardula Poche, 1926, but clearly differs from it and from the other four genera of the family Mesometridae Poche, 1926 in having a ventral surface anterior to the intestinal bifurcation greatly modified into a well-developed, relatively deep pouch encircling the genital pore and constantly diagonal testes. Sclerocollum saudii sp. nov. is similar to S. rubrimaris Schmidt et Paprena, 1978 (type species), but clearly differs in having a proboscis only armed with 10 rows of hooks, smaller proboscis hooks, lemnisci much longer than proboscis receptacle and much smaller egg size. The developmental stages of this acanthocephalan (cystacanths, juveniles and immature worms) are also described and figured.References
Amin, O. M. (1985) Classification. In: Crompton, D.W.T. & Nickol, B. B. (Eds), Biology of the Acanthocephala. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., pp. 27–72.
Amin, O.M., Nahhas, F.M., Abu-Hakima, R. (1984) On three acanthocephalan species from some Arabian Gulf fishes of the coast of Kuwait. Journal of Parasitology, 70, 168–170.
Awachie, J.B.E. (1966) The Development and Life History of Echinorhynchus truttae Schrank, 1788 (Acanthocephala). Journal of Helminthology, 40, 11–32. DOI: 10.1017/S0022149X00034040
Bartoli, P. (1987) Caractères adaptifs originaux des Digènes intestinaux de Sarpa salpa (Teleostei, Sparidae) et leur interprétation en termes d’évolution. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée, 62, 542–576.
Bray, R.A. (1984) Some helminth parasites of marine fishes and cephalopods of South Africa: Aspidogastrea and the digenean families Bucephalidae, Haplosplanchnidae, Mesometridae and Fellodistomidae. Journal of Natural History, 18, 271–292. DOI: 10.1080/00222938400770211
Brooks, D.R., O’Grady, R.T. & Glen, D.R. (1985) Phylogenetic analysis of the Digenea (Platyhelminthes: Cercomeria) with comments on their adaptive radiation. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 63, 411–443.
Cribb, T.H., Bray, R.A., Littlewood, D.T.J., Pichelin, S.P. & Herniou E.A. (2001) The Digenea. In: Littlewood D.T.J., Bray, R.A. (Eds.), Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes, Taylor and Francis, London, pp. 168–185.
Cribb, T.H., Bray, R.A., Olson, P.D. & Littlewood, D.T.J., 2003. Life cycle evolution in the Digenea: a new perspective from phylogeny. Advances in Parasitology, 54, 197–254. DOI: 10.1016/S0065–308X(03)54004–0
Diamant, A. (1989) Ecology of the acanthocephalan Sclerocollum rubrimaris Schmidt and Paperna, 1978 (Rhadinorhynchidae: Gorgorhynchinae) from wild populations of rabbitfish (genus Siganus) in the northern Red Sea. Journal of Fish Biology, 34, 387–398. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1989.tb03321.x
El-Naffar, M.K.I., Gobashy, A., El-Etreby, S.G. & Kardousha M.M. (1992) General survey of helminth parasite genera of Arabian Gulf fishes (Coasts of United Arab Emirates). Arab Gulf Journal of Science Research, 10, 99–110.
Froese, R. & Pauly D. (2004/2009) FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2009
Geets, A. & Ollevier, F. (1996) Endoparasitic helminths of the whitespotted rabbitfish (Siganus sutor Valenciennes, 1835) of the Kenyan Coast: Distribution within the host population and microhabitat use. Belgian Journal of Zoology, 126, 21–36.DOI: 10.1017/S0031182097001054
Graff, D.J. & Kitzman W.B. (1965) Factors influencing the activation of acanthocephalan cystacanths. The Journal of Parasitology, 51, 424–29.
Hall, K.A. & Cribb T.H. (2000) The status of Petalocotyle Ozaki, 1934 (Digenea: Gyliauchenidae), including the description of two new species from acanthurid fishes in Queensland, Australia. Systematic Parasitology, 47, 145–156. DOI: 10.1023/A:1006448519956
Hassanine, R.M. (2006) Acanthocephalans from Red Sea fishes. Family Cavisomidae Meyer, 1932: the seasonal cycle of Diplosentis nudus (Harada, 1938) Pichelin et Cribb, 2001 in a definitive fish host, and a comment on Sclerocollum Schmidt et Paperna, 1978. Acta Parasitologica, 51, 123.130. DOI: 10.2478/s11686–006–0019–3.
Hassanine, R.M. & Al-Jahdali, M.O. (2007) Ecological comments on the intestinal helminths of the rabbitfish Siganus rivulatus (Teleostei, Siganidae) from the northern Red Sea. Acta Parasitologica, 52, 278–285. DOI: 10.2478/s11686-007-0030-3
Hassanine, R.M. & Gibson D.I. (2005) Trematodes of Red Sea fishes: Hexangium brayi n. sp. (Angiodictyidae Looss, 1902) and Siphodera aegyptensis n. sp. (Cryptogonimidae Ward, 1917), with a review of their genera. Systematic Parasitology, 61, 215–222. DOI: 10.1007/s11230-005-3168-0
Holliman, R.B. (1961) Larval trematodes from the Apalachee Bay area, Florida, with a checklist of known marine cercariae arranged in a key to their superfamilies. Tulane Studies in Zoology, 9, 1–74.
Jones, A. & Blair, D. (2005) Family Mesometridae Poche, 1926. In: Gibson, D.I., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A(Eds.), Keys to the Trematoda. Volume 2. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, U.K. pp 213–219.
Jousson, O. & Bartoli, P. (1999) The life-cycle of three species of the Mesometridae (Digenea) with comments on the taxonomic status of this family. Systematic Parasitology, 44, 217–228. DOI: 10.1023/A:1006203806109
Khanna, D.R. (2004) Biology Of Helminthes. Discovery Publishing House, USA. 456 pp.
Lackie, A.M. (1974) The activation of cystacanths of Polymorphus minutus (Acanthocephala) in vitro. Parasitology, 68, 135–146. DOI: 10.1017/S0031182000045674
Martens, E. & Moens, J. (1995) The metazoan ecto- and endo-parasites of the rabbitfish, Siganus sutor (Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1835) off the Kenyan coast. International African Journal of Ecology, 33, 405–416.
Olson, P.D., Cribbb, T.H., Tkachd, V.V., Bray, R.A. & Littlewood D.T.J. (2003) Phylogeny and classification of the Digenea (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda). International Journal for Parasitology, 33, 733–755. DOI: 10.1016/S0020–7519(03)00049–3
Pichelin, S. & Cribb, T.H. (2001) The status of the Diplosentidae (Acanthocephala: Palaeacanthocephala) and new family of acanthocephans from Australian wrasses (Pisces: Labridae). Folia Parasitologica, 48, 289–303.
Pearson, J.C. (1992) On the position of the digenean family Heronimidae: An enquiry into a cladistic classification of the Digenea. Systematic Parasitology, 21, 81–166. DOI: 10.1007/BF00010255
Randall, J.E. (1983) Red Sea Reef Fishes. London: IMMEl Publ. Co.,192 pp.
Schmidt, G.D. & Paperna, I. (1978) Sclerocollum rubrimaris gen. et sp. n. (Rhadinorhynchidae: Gorgorhynchinae), and other Acanthocephala of marine fishes from Israel. Journal of Parasitolology, 64, 846–850.
Skrjabin, K.I. (1949) trematodes of animal and man. Principles of trematodology. volume 3. House Asci. USSR. Moscow, Leningrad, 468 pp. (In Russian)
Szidat, L. (1936) Uber Entwicklungsgeschichte und den ersten Zwischenwirt von Paramphistomum cervi Zeder 1790 aus dem Magen von Wiederkauern. Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde, 9, 1–19.
Yamaguti, S. (1971) Synopsis of digenetic trematodes of vertebrates 1. Tokyo: Keigaku Publishing Company, 1074 pp.