DAO 66:9-14 (2005)  -  doi:10.3354/dao066009

ABSTRACT: Actinospore infection of oligochaetes collected from the mud of 2 freshwater biotopes in Portugal was studied. Using the ‘cell-well plate method’, a new synactinomyxon type was found in 2 specimens (1.3%) of the examined Tubifex tubifex oligochaetes from the River Sousa north of Porto, Portugal. In Criodrilus lacuum and Dero digitata specimens collected from the same river, no actinosporeans were released during the 12 wk observation period. Infected oligochaetes were only found immediately post-collection, and no further actinosporean release was recorded in Tubifex specimens kept alive for several weeks. Actinospore infection showed high intensity in oligochaetes in both positive cases. No actinosporean stages of myxosporeans have as yet been described from Portugal. On the basis of spore morphology and 18S rDNA sequence data, the synactinomyxon type presented in this paper differs from those already known and described in the literature.

KEY WORDS: Myxosporea · Actinospore · Tubifex tubifex · Oligochaete alternate host · 18S rDNA