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Updated: Dec 23, 2025
Raising the Mexican Tetra Astyanax mexicanus for Analysis of Post-larval Phenotypes and Whole-mount Immunohistochemistry
Published on: December 28, 2018
New morphological and molecular data for Xystretrum solidum (Gorgoderidae, Gorgoderinae) from Sphoeroides testudineus
Andrés Martínez-Aquino1, Jhonny Geovanny García-Teh2, Fadia Sara Ceccarelli3
1Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Carretera Transpeninsular 3917, Fraccionamiento Playitas, Ensenada, Baja California 22860, México Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Ensenada Mexico.
Abstract:
Adults of trematodes in the genus Xystretrum Linton, 1910 (Gorgoderidae, Gorgoderinae) are parasites found exclusively in the urinary bladders of tetraodontiform fishes. However, limited and unclear morphological data were used to describe the type species, X. solidum Linton, 1910. Here, we present the first detailed morphological information for a member of Xystretrum. Morphological characters were described using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of Xystretrum specimens from Sphoeroides testudineus (Linnaeus) (Tetraodontiformes, Tetraodontidae), collected at six localities off the northern Yucatan Peninsula coast of the Gulf of Mexico. We also compared sequence fragments of the 28S (region D1-D3) ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene with those available for other gorgoderine taxa. We assigned these Xystretrum specimens to X. solidum, despite the incompleteness of published descriptions. The data provide a foundation for future work to validate the identities of X. solidum, X. papillosum Linton, 1910 and X. pulchrum (Travassos, 1920) with new collections from the type localities and hosts. Comparisons of 28S and COI regions described here also provide an opportunity to evaluate the monophyletic status of Xystretrum.
