Morphology and sequence data of Mexican populations of the ciliate parasite of 2 marine fishes Trichodina rectuncinata (Ciliophora: Trichodinidae)

ISLAS-ORTEGA, ALMA; AGUILAR-AGUILAR, ROGELIO; MARCOTEGUI PAULA; MARTORELLI, SERGIO; DAVID HERNÁNDEZ-MENA; GERARDO, PERAZ -PNCE DE LEON

ACTA PROTOZOOLOGICA

JAGIELLONIAN UNIV

Lugar: : ?; Año: 2018

0065-1583

Trichodina rectuncinata is one of the trichodinids most widely distributed in marine fish. 26 This ciliate species has been recorded in more than 20 host species belonging to 17 fish 27 families worldwide. Previous comparative studies based on morphometric data revealed 28 considerable morphological variation among specimens from different populations of T. 29 rectuncinata. In this study, we conducted a morphometric-molecular analysis of three 30 populations of T. rectuncinata to evaluate potential differences among 18S rRNA 31 sequences, in relation to morphological variations. Smears were obtained from marine 32 fishes in three localities along the Pacific coast of Mexico. Based on the shape of denticles, 33 we found four different morphotypes for T. rectuncinata. This morphological variability 34 does not correspond with the genetic divergence, suggesting that all analyzed populations 35 belong to the same species. Further analyses using more variable markers are necessary to 36 corroborate the findings of our study.