Purpose

European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) is a highly valued fish in many European countries, particularly in Portugal. Despite current stock declines and the threats coccidia pose to European pilchards (e.g. castration), little is known about coccidian parasites infecting pilchards captured off the Portuguese coast.

Methods

In this study, we analyzed the infection patterns, the morphology of oocysts and the phylogenetic relations of coccidian parasites from European pilchard captured in Northern Portugal.

Results

Only Goussia oocysts were detected in infected tissues and prevalence of infection was 64% (n = 61). Oocysts were detected primarily in the liver with fewer infections in the stomach, intestine and gonads. No differences were found in the prevalence between seasons. Phylogenetic analysis showed these parasites are closely related to Goussia clupearum, placing them within a recently described group of Goussia, the clupearum type.

Conclusions

Our study provides more data on Goussia from the clupearum type with phylogenetic analysis indicating that these parasites cluster according to fish host taxonomy, thus suggesting some degree of co-evolution.

中文翻译：

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来自东北大西洋的 Goussia 感染 Sardina pilchardus 的系统发育亲和力和感染模式

目的

欧洲沙丁鱼（Sardina pilchardus）是许多欧洲国家，特别是葡萄牙的高价值鱼类。尽管目前库存下降并且球虫对欧洲沙丁鱼构成威胁（例如阉割），但对感染在葡萄牙海岸捕获的沙丁鱼的球虫寄生虫知之甚少。

方法

在这项研究中，我们分析了在葡萄牙北部捕获的欧洲沙丁鱼的感染模式、卵囊形态和球虫寄生虫的系统发育关系。

结果

在感染组织中仅检测到Goussia卵囊，感染率为 64%（n  = 61）。卵囊主要在肝脏中检测到，胃、肠和性腺中的感染较少。季节之间的流行没有发现差异。系统发育分析表明，这些寄生虫与Goussia clupearum密切相关，将它们置于最近描述的 Goussia 群中，即 clupearum 类型。

结论

我们的研究通过系统发育分析从 clupearum 类型提供了更多关于Goussia 的数据，表明这些寄生虫根据鱼类宿主分类学聚集，从而表明某种程度的共同进化。