The taxonomic status of the extraintestinal piscine coccidium Calyptospora funduli is based in part on its requirement of an intermediate host (the daggerblade grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio). In the present study, grass shrimp fed livers of Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis) infected with sporulated oocysts of C. funduli exhibited numerous sporozoites suspended in the intestinal contents when fresh squash preparations were examined by light microscopy. Using this method, sporozoites were not seen in intestinal epithelial cells of the grass shrimp or in any other cell types. Ultrastructural examination, however, revealed sporozoites in the cytoplasm of the gut basal cells. Cross-sections of 1–13 sporozoites were seen within a single cell, and those sporozoites each appeared to be situated in individual membrane-bound vesicles, rather than in a single parasitophorous vacuole. These ultrastructural observations indicate that in the grass shrimp intermediate host, sporozoites that develop into an infective stage probably undergo that development in gut mucosal basal cells. Prior studies revealed that these sporozoites modified their structure over 4–5 days and that before that time, they were not infective to the fish host. Following ingestion of an infected shrimp by a killifish, the infective sporozoites apparently reach the liver of their killifish definitive hosts through the bloodstream. Sporozoites were seen in blood smears from the longnose killifish, Fundulus similis, 4 hr after fish were fed experimentally infected grass shrimp. Additionally, coccidian trophozoites and early meronts were seen in hepatocytes from several longnose killifish at 48, 72, and 96 hr postinfection. This study, in conjunction with previous findings, clearly confirms that a true intermediate host is required in the life cycle of C. funduli, that a developmental period of about 5 days in grass shrimp is necessary for sporozoites to become infective to killifishes, and that sporozoites do occur intracellularly in gut basal cells of the grass shrimp.
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June 2000
LIFE CYCLES-SURVEY|
June 01 2000
LIFE CYCLE OF CALYPTOSPORA FUNDULI (APICOMPLEXA: CALYPTOSPORIDAE)
John W. Fournie;
John W. Fournie
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, 1 Sabine Island Drive, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32561
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Wolfgang K. Vogelbein;
Wolfgang K. Vogelbein
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, 1 Sabine Island Drive, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32561
*Department of Environmental Sciences, School of Marine Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062.
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Robin M. Overstreet;
Robin M. Overstreet
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, 1 Sabine Island Drive, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32561
†Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, The University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564.
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William E. Hawkins
William E. Hawkins
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, 1 Sabine Island Drive, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32561
†Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, The University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564.
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J Parasitol (2000) 86 (3): 501–505.
Citation
John W. Fournie, Wolfgang K. Vogelbein, Robin M. Overstreet, William E. Hawkins; LIFE CYCLE OF CALYPTOSPORA FUNDULI (APICOMPLEXA: CALYPTOSPORIDAE). J Parasitol 1 June 2000; 86 (3): 501–505. doi: https://doi.org/10.1645/0022-3395(2000)086[0501:LCOCFA]2.0.CO;2
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