Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:30:27.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of low temperature on development of the coccidium Eimeria funduli in the Gulf killifish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. A. Solangi ,
R. M. Overstreet  and
J. W. Fournie
M. A. Solangi
Affiliation:
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564, USA
R. M. Overstreet
Affiliation:
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564, USA
J. W. Fournie
Affiliation:
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Eimeria funduli, a coccidium infecting the liver and pancreas of killifishes and requiring an intermediate host, was allowed to develop at 22±2 °C for 5, 10, 15 or 20 days (schizont through zygote stages) in Fundulus grandis and was then exposed to 10·0±0·5 °C for 20 days or to 7·0±0·5 °C for 5 or 20 days. Both low temperature treatments inhibited all developmental stages, except for the case of fish infected for 5 days before exposure to 7 °C in which infections were eliminated. Returning fish back to a temperature of 22 °C for 20 days resulted in resumed development of all stages at the same or somewhat reduced rate. In all cases, intensity of infections was greatly reduced during exposure to low temperatures. Many organisms exhibited abnormalities. Gamonts and zygotes were atrophied or disintegrated within their parasitophorous vacuoles in all exposures and, in fish exposed to 7 °C for 20 but not 5 days, about 30% of the oocysts were abnormal, with from 1–8 sporoblasts. Areas of degeneration or necrosis incorporated aggregates and single parasites in both the pancreas and the hepatic parenchyma. The granulocytic inflammatory response, which at 22 °C was normally restricted to the period spanning development of gamonts and formation of the oocyst wall, was inhibited or delayed from infiltrating infected, diseased areas at low temperatures. The response intensified after cold-exposed fish were returned to 22 °C. A fibroid, non-granulocytic response occurred in fish introduced 5 days post-infection to 10°C before being returned to warm water. Two other types of lesion occurred in the pancreas. The first could develop into necrosis and was associated with low temperature; it did not always involve infected tissue. The other, a degenerating focal alteration, was not necessarily associated with infections or low temperatures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , February 1982 , pp. 31 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Avtalion, R. R. (1981). Environmental control of the immune response in fish. In CRC Critical Reviews in Environmental Control, vol. 11 (2) (ed. Straub, C. P.), pp. 163–188. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Davies, A. J. (1978). Coccidian parasites of intertidal fishes from Wales: systematics, development, and cytochemistry. Journal of Protozoology 25, 15–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finn, J. P. & Nielsen, N. O. (1971). The effect of temperature variation on the inflammatory response of rainbow trout. Journal of Pathology 105, 257–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, W. E., Solangi, M. A. & Overstreet, R. M. (1981). Ultrastructural effects of the coccidium Eimeria funduli on the liver of killifishes. Journal of Fish Diseases (in the Press).Google Scholar
Luna, L. G. (1968). Manual of Histologic Staining Methods of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 3rd ed.New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.Google Scholar
McQueen, A., MacKenzie, K., Roberts, R. J. & Young, H. (1973). Studies on the skin of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa L.) III. The effect of temperature on the inflammatory response to the metacercariae of Cryptocotyle lingua (Creplin, 1825) (Digenea: Heterophyidae). Journal of Fish Biology 5, 241–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overstreet, R. M. (1974). An estuarine low-temperature fish-kill in Mississippi, with remarks on restricted necropsies. Gulf Research Reports 4, 328–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solangi, M. A. & Ogle, J. T. (1981). Preliminary observation on the effect of Eimeria funduli (Protozoa: Eimeriidae) on the Gulf killifish Fundulus grandis and its potential impact on the killifish bait-industry. Gulf Research Reports (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solangi, M. A. & Overstreet, R. M. (1980). Biology and pathogenesis of the coccidium Eimeria funduli infecting killifishes. Journal of Parasitology 66, 513–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solangi, M. A. & Overstreet, R. M. (1981). Histopathological changes in two estuarine fishes, Menidia beryllina and Trinectes maculatus, exposed to crude oil and its water-soluble fractions. Journal of Fish Diseases (in the Press).Google Scholar
Umminger, B. L. (1971). Chemical studies of cold death in the Gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 39A, 625–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Umminger, B. L. & Bair, R. D. (1973). Role of islet tissue in the cold-induced hyperglycemia of the killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. Journal of Experimental Zoology 183, 65–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar