The development of the nematode Spinitectus inermis (Zeder, 1800), a parasite of the stomach of eels, Anguilla anguilla (L.) in Europe, was experimentally studied. Mayfly nymphs Caenis macrura, Ecdyonurus dispar, Heptagenia sulphurea, Potamanthus luteus and Seratella ignita from Portugal and the Czech Republic were found to serve as experimental intermediate hosts. After ingestion of the nematode eggs by the mayfly nymphs, the toothed first-stage larvae were released and penetrated into the body cavity of the intermediate host. There they moulted twice (on day 4 and 6 post infection [p.i.] at water temperatures of 20-25°C), attaining the third infective stage. The definitive host, A. anguilla, undoubtedly acquires infection by feeding on mayfly nymphs harbouring infective-stage larvae. In an experimentally infected eel, the fourth-stage larva undergoing the third moult was observed 28 days p.i. at water temperature of 20ºC. The larval stages, including moulting forms, are described and illustrated. The prepatent period of S. inermis is estimated to be about two months.
A population of the gill parasite Hatschekia pagellibogneravei (Hesse, 1878) was studied on one of its sparid fish hosts, the blackspot seabream, Pagellus bogaraveo (Brünnich), off the coast of Madeira Island, Portugal, northeast Atlantic. Very high infection levels of this copepod were detected, with no significant seasonal differences. Abundance was negatively correlated with fish size. There were significant differences in the distribution of this copepod among the gill arches of the host, which seem to be best explained by differences in water flow within the gill habitat.
Myxozoan parasites of the genus Kudoa Meglitsch, 1947 are associated with post-mortem tissue degradation that causes great financial losses to commercial fisheries. Kudoa thyrsites (Gilchrist, 1924) is a species with a very wide host range including commercial tunas, mackerels, salmonids and flatfishes. A sample of 190 fishes of 18 species from the Madeira Archipelago and 30 Atlantic chub mackerel, Scomber colias Gmelin, and 30 blue whiting, Micromesistius poutassou (Risso), from the Portuguese mainland coast were examined for the presence of species of Kudoa. The prevalence of Kudoa spp. was 80% in M. poutassou and 60% in S. colias. No spore was detected in S. colias from Madeira, which was confirmed by specific PCR screening of the muscle from all individuals of S. colias. SSU rDNA analysis revealed that M. poutassou and S. colias from the Portuguese mainland coast were infected with K. thyrsites, an economically important myxozoan parasite. Both sequences were identical with sequences of the eastern Atlantic K. thyrsites genotype, including that from the type host of this parasite. This is the first report of K. thyrsites from M. poutassou and S. colias. The fact that spores of species of Kudoa were not detected in fishes screened in the Madeira Archipelago may be explained by various ecological factors, such as the absence of a continental shelf, a short insular shelf, and oceanic waters with low productivity, all resulting in reduced abundance of benthic organisms. Consequently, it is possible that as yet unknown annelid definitive hosts of Kudoa spp. are absent or very rare near Madeiran coasts.