ASCOCOTYLE SP. METACERCARIAE (DIGENEA: HETEROPHYIDAE) IN TISSUES OF
MULLETS MUGIL LIZA AND MUGIL CUREMA (OSTEICHTHYES: MUGILIDAE)
COLLECTED IN THE FISH TRADE OF THE IGUAPE CITY, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
METACERCARIA DE ASCOCOTYLE SP. (DIGENEA: HETEROPHYIDAE) EN TEJIDOS DE
LISAS MUGIL LIZA Y MUGIL CUREMA (OSTEICHTHYES: MUGILIDAE) COLECTADAS EN
PECES COMERCIALES DE LA CIUDAD DE IGUAPE, SAO PAULO, BRASIL
Neotrop. Helminthol., 6(2), 2012
2012 Asociación Peruana de Helmintología e Invertebrados Afines (APHIA)
ISSN: 2218-6425 impreso / ISSN: 1995-1043 on line
ORIGINAL ARTICLE / ARTÍCULO ORIGINAL
1 1 1.
Thales Kodi Namba , Rubens Riscala Madi & Marlene Tiduko Ueta
1Universidade Estadual de Campinas/UNICAMP – Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz – Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Biologia Animal – Rua Monteiro
Lobato, 255 – Campinas/SP, Brasil – CEP 13083-862
thalesnamba@hotmail.com
271
Abstract
The world distribution of oriental culture and the common use of fish which is not cooked manifested
problems related to parasites. There is a great incidence of Ascocotyle sp. parasites in mullet fishes,
which are part of human culinary spread all over world. The aim of the present study is to estimate the
presence of trematode Heterophyidae metacercariae among mullet fishes commercialized at Iguape
city Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ascocotyle sp. metacercarie (Digenea: Heterophyidae) were observed and
analyzed in viscera and muscles of 60 mullets Mugil liza and 60 mullets Mugil curema (Osteichthyes:
Mugilidae) purchased in the fish market of the Iguape city. The extraction of metacercariae of
Ascocotyle sp. from viscera and muscles was performed by homogenization in homemade processor.
All mullets samples were infected. M. liza and M. curema marketed in city constitute in a potential risk
to the population, because of high prevalence of infection (100%) and large numbers of metacercarie
in their tissues (up to 939 to M. liza and 92 to M. curema).
Keywords: Ascocotyle - fish trade - metacercariae - Mugil curema - Mugil liza - mullets.
Resumen
La expansión de la cultura oriental y el aumento del consumo de pescados crudos presenta algunos
problemas, tales como enfermedades causadas por parásitos. Hay una gran incidencia de Ascocotyle
sp. en peces lisas, muy consumidos en diversas partes del mundo. El estudio tuvo como objetivo
verificar la presencia de metacercarias de trematodos Heterophyidae en peces lisas comercializados
en el municipio de Iguape, Sao Paulo, Brasil. Se observaron y analizaron metacercarias de Ascocotyle
sp. (Digenea: Heterophyidae) en vísceras y musculatura de 60 Mugil liza y 60 Mugil curema
(Osteichthyes: Mugilidae) adquiridas en el comercio de pescados del municipio de Iguape. La
extracción de metacercarias de los tejidos de los peces se realizó por homogeneización un procesador
casero. Todas las muestras de peces estuvieron infectadas. M. liza y M. curema comercializados en la
ciudad son un riesgo potencial para la población ante la alta prevalencia de infección en los peces
(100%) y el gran número de metacercarias en sus tejidos (hasta 939 en M. liza y 92 en M. curema).
Palabras-clave: Ascocotyle - metacercarias - Mugil curema - Mugil Liza - peces comerciales - peces lisas.
Suggested citation: Namba TK, Madi RR & Ueta, MT 2012. Ascocotyle sp. metacercariae (Digenea: Heterophyidae) in tissues of
mullets Mugil liza and Mugil curema (Osteichthyes: Mugilidae) collected in the fish trade of the Iguape city, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Neotropical Helminthology, vol. 6, N° 2, pp. 271-275.
INTRODUCTION
Namba et al.
Ascocotyle in tissues of mullets Mugil
Fish known as mullets Mugil liza Valenciennes,
1836 and Mugil curema Valenciennes, 1836
(Osteichthyes: Mugilidae), migratory, live in large
shoals, reaching 1m in length and six kg of weight.
They have high commercial value and it is
commonly found in various regions of the world
(Miranda & Carneiro, 2007; Seckendorff &
Azevedo, 2007).
Generally fish are in parasitological fauna of
protozoa and helminthes hosts (Luque, 2004;
Poulin & Morand, 2000), and several of these
representatives are able to infect humans by eating
raw or undercooked fish. Several studies have
presence reported parasites in various mullet
tissues (Knoff & Serra-Freire, 1993; Merella &
Garippa, 2001; Ranzani-Paiva & Silva-Souza,
2004; Cavalcanti et al., 2005).
Digenetic trematode Ascocotyle sp. (Digenea:
Heterophyidae) has often been reported in mullet
tissues (Almeida Dias & Woiciechovski, 1994;
Okumura et al., 1999; Oliveira et al., 2007).
Chieffi et al. (1990) described an infection case of
Ascocotyle (= Phagicola sp.) in a woman who
eating mullet raw flesh in Cananéia City, Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
Therefore, the Eastern culture expansion, among
other factors, has contributed to changes in men
dietary habits and increased raw fish meat
consumption. With the human infection
occurrences cases by Ascocotyle sp. in Brazil,
further studies are needed for parasite general
knowledge.
The present study aimed to analyze metacercariae
of Ascocotyle sp. presence (Digenea:
Heterophyidae) in viscera and muscle of mullets
M. liza and M. curema (Osteichthyes: Mugilidae)
acquired in the fish trade of the Iguape city, Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
All samples were purchased in the fish trade of the
0 0
Iguape city (24 41'51''S, 47 34'16'' W), between
January 2009 and February 2010. In all, 60 M. liza
and 60 M. curema were acquired, been 30 M. liza
and 30 M. curema caught in beach, and 30 M. liza
and 30 M. curema caught in river. The beach
environment referred to Iguape coast, Sao Paulo,
Barra do Ribeira district and Ilha Comprida city,
São Paulo. The river referred to the estuarine
environment, known as the Small Sea. The entire
region is known as Estuarine Lagoon Complex
Cananéia-Iguape-Ilha Comprida.
The metacercariae Ascocotyle sp. extraction,
muscles and viscera were performed by
homogenization (Castro, 1994). Liver, spleen,
kidney and heart were removed from each
specimen and separated partially fragmented 5 g of
this “viscera pool”. About 300 mL of purified water
was added to 5 g of “viscera pool” in a household
blender, and for about 10 s, the sample was
processed. Then the mixture was screened to 0.07
mm mesh and placed in sedimentation cup for 5
min. Then, the supernatant was removed and have
added 300 mL of water again to the pellet. The
process was repeated to obtain the supernatant
clear water. The same procedure was performed
with a muscle tissue sample, consisting about 5x5
cm quadrant, taken near the left pectoral fin of each
specimen. The samples muscles settling time in the
cup was 15 min. All pellet obtained was observed
by light microscopy to identify and count
metacercariae.
Identification was based on metacercariae Scholz
(1999) and Scholz et al. (2001). Parasites
prevalence and density were calculated according
to Bush et al. (1997). Tests were used for Duncan
multiple comparisons and Pearson tests linear
correlation. Statistical tests were performed using
SAS (SAS, 1996), with interval confidence equal
to 5%.
By morphological characteristics, were identified
as Ascocotyle sp. metacercariae. Confirmed
metacercariae presence in 100% of mullet
specimens M. liza and M. curema and all showed
metacercariae greater density in viscera than in
muscle tissue (Table 1)
In M. liza, the metacercariae number was greater
than M. curema captured in the same environment,
beaches (p = 0.004), and rivers (p = 0.009). The
metacercariae muscle were more numerous in M.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
RESULTS
272
liza (p = 0.0001), and no significant difference
between the sexes of both fish species (p = 0.44, p =
0.69). In both species, density was higher in
viscera than in muscle, and higher in viscera of M.
liza than M. curema, regardless origin place (p =
0.0001).
However, M. curema, density was significantly
higher in fish viscera caught in river than in beach.
The metacercariae density in musculature, M. liza
had significantly higher than M. curema,
regardless site collection (p = 0.02 in beach and p =
0.003 in river).
There were no differences metacercariae density
muscles in relation to sex of two fish species. M.
liza caught in river showed low correlation
between metacercariae frequency in the muscles
and biometric parameters (r = 0.37; p = 0.04 for
length and r = 0.41; p = 0.02 for weight) and
metacercariae density in viscera and weight (r =
0.39; p = 0.03). There was also no correlation
between metacercariae and biometric parameters
(length and weight) for M. liza collected from the
beach ( r = 0.15, p = 0.40; r = 0.04, p = 0.81) and in
M. curema in both (r = 0.01, p = 0.94; r = 0.14, p =
0.44 for beach and r = 0.21, p = 0.25; r = 0.24, p =
0.18 for river)
The metacercariae presence in 100% of units of M.
liza and M. curema is in agreement with shown by
Almeida Dias & Woiciechovski (1994). Oliveira et
al. (2007) also showed parasite presence in all
mullets samples studied in Cananéia City, Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
The efficiency of “viscera pool” for metacercariae
recovery was quoted by other authors (Almeida
Dias & Woiciechovski 1994; Antunes & Almeida
Dias 1994; Oliveira et al., 2007). The viscera
diverse attention because they can be discarded on
public roads or given to animals, which contributes
to the parasite cycle, since dogs and wildlife such
as Procyon lotor Linnaeus, 1758 and Vulpes vulpes
Linnaeus, 1758 have been found parasitized by
Ascocotyle sp. (Snyder et al., Chieffi et al., 1992;
Eira et al., 2006; 1989).
In this work, the muscle tissue was removed from
the left side of each specimen, near the pectoral fin.
But, according to Oliveira et al. (2007), the cranial
and caudal muscles also proved efficient for
metacercariae collecting.
In the present study were found up to 38
metacercariae in 5g sample of mullet sample, and
up to 14 in parati muscle. Barros & Amato (1996)
found that 300 metacercariae are sufficient to
infect dogs. Because all fish examined were
infected, the risk of infection to local population
that consumes fish is high. But in the survey, a
small population, revealed that only 3.2% eat raw
fish, and others, roasted, baked or fried. This habit
of eating fish greatly decreases the possibility of
Table 1. Mean number of Ascocotyle sp. metacercariae (Digenea: Heterophyidae) obtained in samples of 5g mullet
tissue and biometric parameters of Mugil liza and Mugil curema (Osteichthyes: Mugilidae), acquired in the fish trade
of the Iguape city, São Paulo, Brazil.
Mugil liza Mugil curema
Beach (n=30)
River (n=30) (Beach n=30) River (n=30)
Fish length (cm)
46.3 ± 4.9
44.8 ± 4.8 36.0 ± 2.8 36.5 ± 2.0
Fish weigth(g)
906.6 ± 286.0
814.6 ± 141.4 441.9 ± 44.2 455.0 ± 101.1
Metacercariae - viscera
252.9 ± 256.0
232.5 ± 202.2 21.6 ± 9.8 31.4 ± 19.6
Metacercariae - muscle
8.7 ± 8.6
7.4 ± 6.7 3.1 4.5± 2.5 ± 3.1
DISCUSSION
Neotrop. Helminthol., 6(2), 2012
273
infection as Coelho et al. (1997) showed that
preventing Ascocotyle sp. can be effective by
cooking fish at 100°C and freezing at -20°C.
The significantly greater density of Ascocotyle sp.
metacercariae in the M. curema viscera caught in
river can be explained by known the access to the
river for this species, showing potential proximity
to intermediate hosts and infective parasite forms.
Despite significant correlation between
metacercariae density and M. liza biometric
parameters, the coefficient values were very low,
indicating that the metacercariae presence is not
dependent of fish species length and weight. It is
worth mentioning Almeida Dias & Woiciechovski
(1994) and Oliveira et al., (2007), which had
infected fish from specimens with four cm
fingerlings, not observing infection in juvenile
smaller. Although the metacercariae density in M.
liza viscera and muscles had been greater than in
M. curema, the study results showed no clear
biometrics and density correlation of biometric
and density of M. liza metacercariae. However,
other authors found a greater number of
metacercariae in larger fish (Coelho et al., 1997).
Vianna et al. (2005) studied metacercariae of
Clinostomum complanatum (Rudolphi, 1819) and
Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) showed
that fish parasites density is greater than 30 cm.
Literature data suggest gradual metacercariae
acquisition, which minor variations, all in
accordance with the size set by IBAMA (Instituto
Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos
Naturais Renováeis) extractive fishing.
Ascocotyle sp. metacercariae were found in 100%
fish mullets obtained in the fish trade of the Iguape
city, Sao Paulo, Brazil, between January 2009 and
February 2010. The M. liza and M. curema
consumption generates a zoonotic risk potential to
population for high infection prevalence and large
metacercariae numbers in their tissues.
We thank to Unicamp Procad Program NF
69/2010. The authors were also grateful to Naércio
Aquino Menezes (Museu de Zoologia - USP), for
the fishes identification support.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Author for correspondence / Autor para
correspondencia
Thales Kodi Namba
Universidade Estadual de Campinas/UNICAMP –
Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz – Instituto de
Biologia, Departamento de Biologia Animal – Rua
Monteiro Lobato, 255 – Campinas/SP, Brasil –
CEP 13083-862
E-mail /correo electrónico:
thalesnamba@hotmail.com
Received, September 10, 2012.
Accepted, December 6, 2012.
Neotrop. Helminthol., 6(2), 2012
275
