Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

BIBTEX RIS

Parasites of the mangrove mussel Mytella guyanensis (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) in Camamu Bay, Bahia, Brazil

2012; Instituto Internacional de Ecologia (Brazil); Volume: 72; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/s1519-69842012000300002

1678-4375

LO. Ceuta, Guisla Boehs,

Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology and Behavior

This contribution reports the parasites found in the mangrove mussel Mytella guyanensis in Camamu Bay, Bahia, Brazil. Samples were collected monthly from September 2006 through October 2007. A total of 460 individuals were collected, fixed in Davidson's solution, and processed by standard histological techniques, and the sections were stained with Harris hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The water temperature ranged from 23.5 to 31.6 ºC, and the salinity from 25 to 37‰. Microscopic analysis showed Rickettsia-like organisms (RLOs), Nematopsis sp. (Apicomplexa), and Platyhelminthes, including a turbellarian, sporocysts of Bucephalus sp., metacercariae, and metacestodes of Tylocephalum sp. Parasites were observed mainly in the gills, mantle, and digestive gland. The prevalence of Nematopsis sp. was 100%, and in heavily infected mussels the tissues of the labial palps were damaged. RLOs occurred in high prevalence and intensity of infection in some periods. The digenean sporocysts showed moderate prevalence but high intensity of infection, and caused parasitic castration. In general, there was no significant spatial or temporal variation (p > 0.05) of the parasites, which is probably attributable to the small variations of temperature and salinity in the region.