Ultrastructural Observations on a Thraustochytrid Fungus Parasitic in the Gills of Squid (Illex illecebrosus LeSueur)

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Abstract
Squid (I. illecebrosus) kept in the laboratory at Dalhousie University [Nova Scotia, Canada] often developed a severe gill infection, characterized by small white lesions that contained large numbers of organisms identified ultrastructurally as thraustochytrid fungi. The fungi occurred in the connective tissue, but when large numbers were present the overlying epithelium was disrupted. Pathogenic effects were related to the lytic properties of ectoplasmic nets. The fungal thallus itself caused little tissue damage, but where net branches radiate, lysis and complete distrubtion of adjacent host cells occurred. There was little evidence for an amoebocytic host response; no encapsulation of the fungi was seen. No other organisms occurred within lesions, although bacteria occurred in regions where fungi and host cell debris spilled out into the mantle cavity through the disrupted epithelium.

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