Strains of Uronema marinum (Scuticociliatia) co-isolated with amoebae of the genus Neoparamoeba

Mixed infections of histophagous ciliates and Neoparamoeba spp. Page, 1987 were diagnosed in gill tissue of farmed turbot Psetta maxima (synonym: Scophthalmus maximus) and Atlantic salmon Salmo salar during a study of amoebic gill disease. Ciliates co-isolated from lesions grossly visible on gills of both fish hosts and from 2 species of red algae Lithophyllum racemus and Palmaria palmata were characterized morphologically and by using molecular markers. Sequences of small subunit (SSU) rDNA were determined for 6 strains of ciliates isolated from hosts collected in geographically distant localities. Of these, sequences of 5 strains revealed a surprisingly high level of similarity and identified the corresponding strains with Uronema marinum Lynn et Small, 1997. Thus, the set of environmental sequences of U. marinum available in the GenBank database to date was supplemented with the first sequences of potentially histophagous strains. On the basis of SSU rDNA, the 6th strain, also isolated from affected fish gills, was identified as Aristerostoma sp.