Abstract
Recent anecdotal reports from seafood processors in eastern Australia have described an increased occurrence of post-mortem myoliquefaction (‘jellymeat’) in broadbill swordfish Xiphias gladius, and macroscopic cysts throughout the musculature of yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares. A genus of parasitic cnidarians, Kudoa (Myxosporea, Multivalvulida), species of which are known to occur in economically important wild-caught fish species globally, can cause similar quality-deterioration issues. However, Kudoa sp. epizootiology within commercially harvested, high-value fish caught within Australia is poorly understood, despite the parasite’s economic importance. To determine the causative agent responsible for the observed quality deterioration in swordfish and yellowfin tuna, muscle-tissue samples from seafood processors in Mooloolaba, Australia, collected from October 2019–February 2020, were examined for parasitic infection. Kudoid myxospores were identified from both hosts and were subquadrate in shape, with four equal-sized polar capsules. The SSU rDNA sequences from both fish shared > 99% identity to Kudoa species. Kudoa musculoliquefaciens was isolated from 87.1% of swordfish sampled, suggesting that it is a widespread parasite in swordfish from the southwest Pacific Ocean. This study provides the first molecular and morphological characterisation of Kudoa thunni in yellowfin tuna and K. musculoliquefaciens in swordfish harvested from the waters of eastern Australia, expanding the geographical distribution of K. thunni and K. musculoliquefaciens to include the Coral and Tasman Seas. We demonstrate that not all infected swordfish progress to jellymeat, show the usefulness of molecular tools for reliably identifying infection by Kudoa spp., and add to the overall knowledge of kudoid epizootiology in wild-caught fish.
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Data availability
All sequence data have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). The K. thunni SSU rDNA sequence was deposited under MW492581. The K. musculoliquefaciens SSU rDNA sequence was deposited under MW492582. The uncropped images underlying the figures were deposited in the Figshare repository: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13671856.
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Acknowledgements
We thank 4 Seas Pty. Ltd. and Walker Seafoods Australia for providing fish samples and invaluable industry knowledge. We also thank Tuna Australia for further discussions and comments on the initial draft. We gratefully acknowledge the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Genecology Research Centre and the University of the Sunshine Coast’s laboratory technicians for support with facilities and equipment, and Zoë J. Barclay for assistance in the laboratory.
Funding
J.A.B. is funded by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ResearchPlus Top-Up Scholarship, and an Australian Society for Fish Biology Michael Hall Award for Innovation. K.L.S. is funded by an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship (AQIRF222-2019RD2).
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Bolin, Cummins, Evans and Scales conceived the study. Bolin collected data and undertook laboratory processing with assistance from Cummins and Mitu. Bolin drafted the manuscript, with input and revisions from all authors.
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Bolin, J.A., Cummins, S.F., Mitu, S.A. et al. First report of Kudoa thunni and Kudoa musculoliquefaciens affecting the quality of commercially harvested yellowfin tuna and broadbill swordfish in Eastern Australia. Parasitol Res 120, 2493–2503 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07206-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07206-8