Morphology and ultrastructure of the anterior adhesive areas of the capsalid monogenean parasites Benedenia rohdei from the gills and B. lutjani from the pelvic fins of Lutjanus carponotatus (Pisces: Lutjanidae).

The anterior adhesive areas of Benedenia rohdei from the gills and B. lutjani from the pelvic fins of Lutjanus carponotatus at Heron Island, Australia, were studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. All specimens were fixed when detached from host tissue. Both monogenean species have two disc-like anteroventral attachment organs, each of which has an anterolateral adhesive area divided into three adjacent zones by tegument from the ventral surface of the attachment organ. A rod-shaped secretion and a smaller, roughly spherical secretion are associated with the anterior adhesive areas in both species; a third type of secretion occurs anteriorly but outside these adhesive areas. The electron-dense spherical secretory bodies released onto the anterior adhesive zones in these Benedenia spp. are of a single type and differ ultrastructurally from those previously reported in monogeneans living on teleost hosts. A correlation, therefore, between secretion morphology and host type is not supported. No relationship was found between parasite microhabitat and secretion morphology.