Intense infections of a variant of Myxobolus procerus (Kudo, 1934) are described from trout-perch (Percopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum)) collected in Duluth Harbor, Lake Superior, USA. This particular population of parasites has spores that are identical in shape (narrow pyriform) to those described for M. procerus except that they are significantly smaller (13-14.5 pm long versus 15-17 pm long). In contrast to what was originally described for M. procerus, the plasmodia develop primarily within red and white striated muscle fibres and only rarely among the subdermal connective tissue. Most plasmodia were at or near the same stage of development. Typical development involves growth within the fibre. The parasite eventually replaces the entire content of the host cell and appears to halt development before rupturing the outer cell membrane. The only obvious host response was an occasional cyst being invaded by a localized cellular infiltrate. Infected fish appeared of normal health and no grossly evident myoliquefaction was seen. The infections involved several hundred plasmodia per fish and the question of why such unusually high levels of infection would develop in hosts inhabiting a polluted habitat is raised. It is suggested that proliferation of a pollution tolerant oligochaete (the suspected alternate host) in the harbour and/or a compromised host immune system may have increased the probability of successful transmission and development in trout-perch living in the harbour.
Lectins and their glycosylated receptors in a system of the tick-transmitted pathogen are the addressed topics which the minireview is dealing with. They participate in the reciprocal protein-saccharide interactions in the transmission of the causative agents of the tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme borreliosis by the ticks. Functional significance of the tick tissue specific lectins as well the lectins/aggulutinis of the transmitted pathogens in molecular ecology of the tick borne diseases has been shown.
A species not identifiable with any of the about 23 Myxobolus species recorded from the common carp so far, was detected in the gills of one- and two-summer-old specimens of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) cultured in pond farms in Hungary. The strictly tissue-specific plasmodia of the parasite were located, surrounded by hyaline cartilage cells, in the chondrous substance of the terminal parts of the gill arches and in the cartilage structure vcntrally connecting the gill arches. The spores of the parasite described as Myxobolus intrachondrealis sp. n. developed in globular or ellipsoidal plasmodia measuring 300-600 pm. By their elongated ellipsoidal shape and similarly elongated polar capsules the spores were well distinguishable from the hitherto described Myxobolus species parasitic in the common carp and also from the cartilage-parasitic Myxobolus species of other fishes.
Modern studies on the Be star population of young open clusters point towards the presence of an evolutionary enhancement of the Be phenomenon in the second half of the B stars main sequence lifetime. However, in the galactic field, Be stars are equally present in luminosity classes V to III, indicating that there is no evolutionary trend. To investigate these diverging results we have studied samples of main sequence B stars in the galactic field and in theh and ¬ Per clusters. From the analysis of the HR diagrams it is shown that there is no segregation between class V and class III stars, both groups being evenly distributed along the whole main sequence. We conclude that luminosity classes of main sequence B stars are not related to the evolutionary status of the stars. We propose a scenario of evolutionary enhancement of the rotational velocity to explain both the lack of relation between the evolutionary status and the luminosity classes and the evolutionary enhancement of the Be phenomenon.