Dicyemid mesozoans are endoparasites inhabited in benthic cephalopod molluscs. Previous studies of dicyemids were mostly concentrated on their taxonomy. The life cycle remains a mystery since Cavolini observed this animal in 1787. The purpose of this study is to investigate further on the dicyemid life cycle building on the limited knowledge from previous studies, and investigate the infection of dicyemid in octopuses in tropical waters, using the area in the southwestern Taiwan as a model. A total of 324 octopus hosts was collected¡Aincluding 3 genera and 13 species from DungGang Fish Market from 2001 to 2002. There were 9 host species detected with dicyemid mesozoans including 14 species within 2 genera. Moreover, there is no dicyemid species overlap among the octopus species indicating high host-specificity. There is large range of the dicyemid infection prevalence among octopod hosts. Cistopis indicus has the highest prevalence (91%) and Octopus luteus the lowest (20%) in this study. In C. indicus, the infected mechanism correlated with season. The infusoriform larvae of dicyemid mesozoan dispersal from the host to sea water in the autumn and winter, then entering host in the spring and summer. The change of dicyemid life cycle stage in the C. indicus kidney correlates with the sharp decrease of infection intensity. However, the dicyemid infection in Octopus marginatus correlates with body size, not with season. Besides, there is significant difference of dicyemid development between two kidneys of the same individual, both in the analysis of C. indicus and O. marginatus. It indicates the separated way of dicyemid infection into two sides of kidneys.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0902103-125351 |
| Date | 02 September 2003 |
| Creators | Hsu, Chia-Ling |
| Contributors | Chuan-Chin Chiao, David Chao, Hin-Kiu Mok, Chung-Cheng Lu, Meng-Hsien Chen |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0902103-125351 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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