Myxidiumtunisiensis n. sp. (Myxosporea: Myxidiidae) infecting the rough skate Raja radula Delaroche, 1908 (Rajiformes: Rajidae) from North East Tunisia

A new marine myxosporean, Myxidium tunisiensis n. sp. (Myxosporea: Myxidiidae), is described infecting the gallbladder of the rough skate Raja radula Delaroche, 1908 (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae) harvested from the Bay of Bizerte, Tunisia. Observed stages of the parasite were floating free in the bile. Plasmodia, disporic or polysporic, contain disporic pansporoblasts measuring 23.0–27.2 μm in maximum diameter and 21.0–25.5 μm in minimum diameter. Mature myxospores, which are elongated, typically fusiform measured 18.6 ± 1.7 (17.2–22.0) μm in length, 8.6 ± 1.2 (7.2–11.2) μm in width and 8.2 ± 0.9 (6.4–10.1) in thickness. Myxospore valves are symmetrical with 9–10 longitudinal striations. Two polar capsules, pyriform, were equal in size, measuring 5.8 ± 0.4 (5.2–6.7) μm in length and 3.1 ± 0.2 (3.0–3.2) μm in width, with 5–6 polar filament turns. The infection was prevalent throughout the year with the highest prevalence in autumn (81.8%) and the lowest in winter (32.3%). The seasonal prevalence of M. tunisiensis n. sp. in the Bay of Bizerte appeared to fluctuate according to seawater temperature. The morphological and morphometrical differences with all Myxidium spp. described so far, complemented by molecular data, prove clearly that the present species is a new member of the genus Myxidium. The SSU rDNA phylogenetic analyses revealed that Myxidium tunisiensis n. sp. clustered within the oligochaete-gallbladder clade in a basal position to the marine subclade of Myxidium baueri and Myxidium coryphaenoideum. While the new species branching pattern is stable in the ML and the BI analyses, it changed in the MP analysis. This is the first molecular study of a Myxidium species infecting an elasmobranch host inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea.