Octopus bimaculoides (Pickford & McConnaughey, 1949): a marine invertebrate host for ectoparasitic protozoans |
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| Authors: | J W FORSYTHE R T HANLON R A BULLIS E J NOGA |
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| Institution: | The Marine Biomedical Institute, UTMB, Galveston, Texas. USA;Laboratory for Marine Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA;College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract. During the laboratory culture of the California mud-fiat oetopus. Octopus bimaculoides (Pickford & McConnaughey, 1949), concurrent infestations of ectoparasitic flagellate and ciliate protozoans were discovered when examining sick and dying animals. The flagellates, similar to the bodonid parasite, Ichthyobodo necator (Henneguy, 1883), were small (3–9 μm total length) and infested any surface epithelia exposed to sea water. The larger ciliates (l5–30 μm total length), believed to be ancistrocomids, were found only on the gills. This is the first documented report of ciliate or flagellate ecto-parasites infesting cephalopod molluscs. Flagellate infestations were first manifest on the dorsal arms and mantle surfaces of O. bimaculoides as white spots visible when the octopuses were in dark colouration. Lesions formed at the centres of the spots and the interspersed lesions eventually connected. Once the parasites damaged the epidermis, secondary bacterial infections caused lesioning. Both parasites heavily infested the gills. Clinical signs first appeared at 2 months post-hatching (0-5 g). Octopuses seemed to become refractory to the disease beyond a size of 25 g. No effective treatment was found for these infestations. It was possible to eliminate parasite spread in the laboratory by prefiltering water to l μm. The source of the parasites was the wild octopus population of the southern California coast. |
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