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Intracellular parasites of the genus Glugea Thélohan, 1891 (Microsporidia) comprise about 34 putative species capable of causing high morbidity and mortality in freshwater and marine teleost fishes. In this study, we report on the first mass mortality event associated with Glugea sp. infecting free‐ranging round sardinella Sardinella aurita in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy). Here, we describe the ultrastructure of mature spores of this microsporidian and characterize it molecularly, as well as report its phylogenetic position. Most of the affected fish showed an irregular swelling of its abdomen. At necropsy, a variable number of xenomas, spherical to ellipsoidal in shape, were found in the peritoneal cavity strongly attached to the viscera of all fish. Histological analysis revealed varying severity of chronic inflammation along with occasional necrosis in visceral organs associated with multiple xenoma proliferation. These pathological findings were considered the main cause of this mass mortality event. Morphologically, the present material was closely related to G. sardinellesis and G. thunni. The phylogenetically closest taxa to the newly SSU rDNA sequence were G. thunni and an erroneusly identified G. plecoglossi, which were very closely related to each other, also suggesting that all these sequences might belong to the same species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study conducted on stranded sardines along the Campania coasts in Italy. The study found the presence of cyst-like structures in the abdominal cavity of the sardines, which were identified as xenomas produced by microsporidia. Histopathological examination revealed the structure of the xenomas and identified the fungus as belonging to the Class Microsporidea, Family Glugeidea. Molecular identification confirmed the presence of Glugea plecoglossi, a parasite that can cause economic loss in fish populations. The study highlights the importance of considering the impact of these parasites on both wild and farmed fish. [Extracted from the article]

Sulcascaris sulcata (Anisakidae), a pathogenic nematode of sea turtles, may cause ulcerous gastritis with different degrees of severity. Previous studies demonstrated a high prevalence of infection in the Mediterranean loggerhead turtle ( Caretta caretta ), although no data on the potential intermediate hosts of this nematode has been published thus far from the Mediterranean basin. Here, using molecular analyses, we demonstrated that the cross sections of nematode larvae observed histologically in Mediterranean mussels ( Mytilus galloprovincialis ) collected from a farm along the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy belong to S. sulcata . The BLAST analysis of sequences at the ITS2 region of rDNA and mtDNA cox2 gene loci here obtained from samples of two Mediterranean mussels containing nematode larvae showed 100% homology with those at the same gene loci from the adults of S. sulcata collected from the Mediterranean Sea and deposited in GenBank. To our knowledge, this study is the first to present data on a potential intermediate host of S. sulcata in the Mediterranean basin and to report a nematode parasite from the Mediterranean mussel., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.