
from Portugal by Menezes (1984)shouldbeM. episquamalis,
since this species is morphologically identical and has been
found on the scales of the mullet.
DNA amplification of the SSU rDNA of the samples of
M. episquamalis from M. liza produced DNA fragments of
1000 bp length. The seque nces of the two samples were 100%
identical to each other and to M. episquamalis (JF810537;
MK012069), reported from gray mullet M. cephalus in Asia
(Kim et al. 2013;Simsek2019), and 99.7% similar to the first
sequence of M. episquamalis (AY129312) deposited in
GenBank, obtained from M. cephalus from Tunisia, northern
Africa (Bahri et al. 2003). A representative sequence of the cur-
rent work was deposited in GenBank under the accession num-
ber MN822014. The high levels of genetic similarity between
our sequence and the sequences of M. episquamalis from North
Africa and Asia confirmed the identification of M. episquamalis
from the Lebranche mullet in southeastern Brazil.
Acknowledgments We thank the fisherman Mr. Lu cielio de Moura
Costa, in the municipality of Maricá, State of Rio de Janeiro, for giving
us the fish that were analyzed in the current study. We are also grateful to
the Laboratório de Histologia e Embriologia of the Departamento de
Biologia Animal of the UFRRJ for the preparation of histological slides.
Funding information This study was supported by a compensatory mea-
sure established by the Chevron Responsibility Adjustment Term, con-
ducted by the Federal Public Ministry, with the implementation of the
Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade (FUNBIO), in addition to the
support of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível
Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico
e Tecnológico (CNPq), and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à
Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). RD and JLG-O have a
scholarship from CAPES (Grant/Award Number: 001). BRM had a
scholarship from CNPq (Grant/Award Number: PIB179/2018). BPB
has a fellowship from CNPq (Grant/Award Number: 302437/2016-9
and 303899/2019-0) and from FAPERJ (Grant/Award Number: E-26/
203.200/2016 and E-26/202.797/2019).
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
Ethical approval Animal collection complied with the guidelines of the
Conselho Nacional de Controle de Experimentação Animal and were
approved by the Comissão de Ética no uso de Animais (CEUA/ICBS)
of the UFRRJ under protocol no. 005/2019.
References
Bahri S, Andree KB, Hedrick RP (2003) Morphological and phylogenetic
studies of marine Myxobolus spp. from mullet in Ichkeul Lake,
Tunisia. J Eukaryot Microbiol 50:463–470
Egusa S, Maeno Y, Sorimachi M (1990) A new species of Myxozoa,
Myxobolus episquamalis sp. nov. infecting the scales of the mullet,
Mugil cephalus L. Fish Pathol 25:87–391
Eiras JC, Abreu PC, Robaldo R, Pereira Junior J (2007) Myxobolus
platanus n. sp. (Myxosporea, Myxobolidae), a parasite of Mugil
platanus Günther, 1880 (Osteichthyes, Mugilidae) from Lagoa dos
Patos, RS, Brazil. Arq Bras Med Vet Zootec 59:895–898
Eiras JC, Zhang J, Molnár K (2014) Synopsis of the species of Myxobolus
Bütschli, 1882 (Myxozoa: Myxosporea, Myxobolidae) described
between 2005 and 2013. Syst Parasitol 88:11–36
Froese R, Pauly D (2019) Fishbase. Available from: http://www.fishbase.
org. Accessed 12 Jan 2019
Kim WS, Kim JH, Jang MS, Jung SJ, Oh MJ (2013) Infection of wild
mullet (Mugil cephalus) with Myxobolus episquamalis in Korea.
Parasitol Res 112:447–451
Knoff M, Serra-Freire NM (1993) Protozoários parasitos de Mugil
platanus Günther. Rev Bras Parasitol Vet 2:25–28
Lom J, Dyková I (2006) Myxozoan genera: definition and notes on tax-
onomy, life-cycle terminology and pathogenic species. Folia
Parasitol 53:1–36
Marcotegui P, Martorelli S (2017) Myxobolus saladensis sp. nov., a new
species of gill parasite of Mugil liza (Osteichthyes, Mugilidae) from
Samborombón Bay, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Iheringia Ser Zool
107:e2017026
Menezes J (1984) A case of massive cutaneous myxobolosis in wild
mullet. Bol Inst Pesca 12:71–72
Özer A, Gürkanlı CT, Özkan H, Acar G, Çiftçi Y, Yurakhno V (2016)
Molecular characterization and morphological aspects of Myxobolus
parvus (Myxozoa) from Liza saliens (Mugilidae) off the Turkish
Black Sea coasts. Parasitol Res 115:3513–3518
Rothwell JT, Virgona JL, Callinan RB, Nicholls PJ, Langdon JS (1997)
Occurrence of cutaneo us infections of Myxobolus episquamalis
(Myxozoa: Myxobolidae) in sea mullet, Mugil cephalus L, in
Australia. Aust Vet J 75:349–352
Salim KY, Desser SS (2000) Description and phylogenetic systematic of
Myxobolus ssp. from Cyprinids in Algoniun Park, Ontario. J
Eukaryot Microbiol 47:309–318
Simsek E (2019) First molecular data on Myxobolus episquamalis
(Myxozoa: Myxosporea) infecting the scale of Grey mullet (Mugil
cephalus) from Turkey. Turkiye Parazitol Derg 43:135–
142
White TJ, Burns T, Lee S, Taylor J (1990) Amplification and direct
sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In:
Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR protocols: a
guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, San Diego, pp
315–322
Publisher’snoteSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Parasitol Res