Renal myxozoanosis in weedy sea dragons, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacepède), caused by Sinuolinea phyllopteryxa n. sp.

Renal myxozoanosis was diagnosed histologically in 11 captive, wild caught, adult weedy (common) sea dragons, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, from three separate public aquaria in the United States. Myxozoan spores were visible in wet mounts of kidney tissue and were associated with renal tubular dilatation and tubular epithelial cell hypertrophy. Light and electron microscopy revealed spore morphology consistent with the genus Sinuolinea. Spores were spheroidal, slightly dorso-ventrally compressed, length (L) 17.1 x width (W) 16.4 x thickness (T) 15.6 microm, with two shell valves joined at a distinct, sinuous sutural ridge, and had two nearly spherical polar capsules, L 5.5 x W 5.0 microm, with five to seven turns of the polar filament. There were no extra-valvular ridges or protrusions. DNA sequencing required the design of three new primers that yielded 1740 bp of 18S ribosomal DNA sequence. The parasite was determined to be novel based on morphological and molecular data, and was given the name Sinuolinea phyllopteryxa after its vertebrate host.