Aspectos morfológicos de parasitos dos filos Myxozoa e Apicomplexa em Thoracocharax stellatus (Kner, 1858) (Characiformes: Gasteropelecidae) capturados em igarapé na margem direita do Rio Guamá, Belém, Pará.

Abstract

The ornamental fish trade is an important sector in generating income and employment in the world. About 100 million ornamental fish are sold every year and over 90% of this total are from Brazilian freshwater. The Pará State accounts for about 30% of total ornamental fish marketed and all those from the extrativism. Thoracocharax stellatus (Kner, 1858), popularly known and called “peixe borboleta” are found in rivers, lakes and streams of the Amazonas, Orinoco, Paraguay and Tocantins-Araguaia basins. T. stellatus is great economic importance due to its good acceptance in the ornamental fish market. One of the main difficulties found by farmers and exporters should the parasites that cause alterations in the organic homeostasis of fish, increasing the death rate in captivity. In the last decades, it has considerably increased the relevance of the studies related to parasites and other pathogens of aquatic organisms, with a greater focus on species with potential for farming and marketing, given the significant increase of these activities in Brazil and around the world. Morphologically microparasites found in T. stellatus were described to generate scientific information. Monthly, samples were taken during march, 2014 to february, 2015, totaling 85 specimens of T. stellatus. The fish were sacrificed and analyzed in stereomicroscope and ligth microscopy. Fragments of infected organs with Apicomplexa and/or Mixosporideans cysts were collected and processed in light and electronic microscopy and molecular biology for further analysis. Therefore, this study reports the morphological characteristics of Mixosporideans found in T. stellatus, from the Guama river, Belém, Pará, Brazil.