Myxobolus infection of the gills of common bream (Abramis brama L.) in Lake Balaton and in the Kis-Balaton reservoir, Hungary

During a five-year survey including studies on the parasite fauna of bream (Abramis brama), four gill-parasitic Myxobolus species (M. bramae, M. hungaricus, M. impressus and M. macrocapsularis) were recorded in a total of 313 breams from Lake Balaton. The commonest species, M. bramae showed a prevalence of 33%, while the other species occurred sporadically. Myxobolus bramae and M. macrocapsularis infected the tips of the gill filaments and caused both intralamellar and interlamellar infection. Intralamellar plasmodia of small size developed in the capillary network of the gill lamellae whereas the much larger interlamellar plasmodia were formed in the arteria afferens. The intralamellar plasmodia of M. hungaricus always infected the basal or central part of the gill filaments. In contrast to the above species developing in the blood vessels, M. impressus proved to be an epithelial parasite, as its plasmodia always developed in the adjacent gill filaments of two opposite haemibranchia, in the stratified epithelium between the respiratory plates, causing changes of the haemibranchium which were well visible even by the naked eye.