Description of three new species of Kudoa Meglitsch, 1947 (Myxozoa: Multivalvulida) in commercial marine fishes from southern China, and new host records

Multivalvulidan myxosporeans (Multivalvulida) of the genera Unicapsula Davis, 1924 and Kudoa Meglitsch, 1947 are mostly causative agents of latent and imperceptible infection in marine fishes. However, they are sometimes incriminated in causing post-mortem myoliquefaction or unsightly cyst formation in commercial fish. Despite the great commercial impacts of multivalvulidan infection, the biodiversity, host range and epidemiology of multivalvulidan species remain to be explored further, including infection of alternative annelid hosts. Therefore, this study aimed to identify multivalvulidan species and their host and/or distribution records in commercial fishes in China. Multivalvulidan infection was detected in ten commercial fish species of seven families from the South and East China Seas (Northwest Pacific Ocean) and the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean (an imported Dagetichthys lusitanicus [de Brito Capello]). Based on morphological and molecular-genetic analyses of their small and large subunit of ribosomal RNA genes, five new host and/or geographical distribution records for five fish species are presented, and three new species in five fish species are described, namely Kudoa neoscomberomori sp. n. in Scomberomorus commerson (Lac & eacute;p & egrave;de); Kudoa pilosa sp. n. in Helicolenus hilgendorfi (D & ouml;derlein) (type host) and Sebastiscus tertius (Barsukov et Chen); and Kudoa tumidisporica sp. n. in Photopectoralis bindus (Valenciennes) (type host) and Nuchequula nuchalis (Temminck et Schlegel). This study provides new data on multivalvulidan diversity in the ocean ecosystem.