Meglitschia spp. (Myxozoa) Infecting the Gallbladder of Eugerres Brasilianus (Teleostei: Gerreidae) from the Atlantic Coast of Maceió (Brazil)

The Myxozoa Grassé, 1970 infecting fish is an important pathogenic group having a worldwide distribution. Among these parasites the monotypic genus Meglitschia Kovaleva, 1988 has been reported infecting the gallbladder (Gb) of a marine fish from the New Zealand fauna [1,2] and a freshwater fish from Brazil, collected in a tributary of Amazon River [3]. The teleostean host (Eugerres brasilianus) a commercially important fish of the family Gerreidae, common in the NE Atlantic coast of Brazil, was infected Gallbladder by myxospores of the genus Meglitschia. This genus is a small taxonomic group within the class Myxosporea that contains only two named species, M. insolita [1] (formerly described as Ceratomyxa sp.) [2] from New Zealand and M. mylei [3] from Brazil. These two species were described on the base of a schematic drawing [1] and based in light and transmission electron microscopies [3]. The present study provides light and ultrastructural for the description of Meglitschia sp., a myxosporean parasite infecting the Gallbladder of a marine fish on the Brazilian northern Atlantic coast. This genus, despite being similar to Ceratomyxa spp. with which it shares some morphologic aspects, differs in the typically arcuate ∩-shaped of their myxospores.