Pathological changes induced by three myxosporeans in the intestine of cultured tiger puffer, Takifugu rubripes (Temminck and Schlegel)

Pathological changes in cultured tiger puffer, Takifugu rubripes , with emaciation disease in Kyushu, Japan were studied histologically. In most cases, diseased fish were heavily infected with at least one of three myxosporeans ( Myxidium fugu , Myxidium sp. and Leptotheca fugu ) and two unidentified hyperparasitic microsporeans, attached to, or in, the intestinal epithelium. Myxidium fugu attached to the surface of the epithelium, caused no noticeable effects on the host tissue, irrespective of its infection with the hyperparasite. Myxidium sp., which proliferated in the epithelium, induced severe pathological changes including accumulation of cell debris between the epithelium and lamina propria and resultant detachment of the epithelium. Leptotheca fugu, another histozoic myxosporean, induced degeneration of the epithelium, associated with massive infiltration of macrophages into the epithelium to encapsulate parasites. When L. fugu was infected with its hyperparasitic microsporean, shortened villi were also observed. This is probably because passage of macrophage-parasite aggregates through the basement membrane of the epithelium severely damaged the epithelial structure. It is evident histologically that, unlike epicellular M. fugu , histozoic Myxidium sp. and L. fugu with or without hyperparasitic microsporeans, were highly pathogenic to host fish. This strongly suggests that they are causative agents of the emaciation disease.