ABSTRACT
A new species of Haliotrema is described on the basis of material from the gills of the Japanese puffer fish Takifugu niphobles. The new species is compared to other ancyrocephalids from tetraodontid hosts and congeners with similar copulum morphology from unrelated hosts. It is distinguished from these species based on a combination of reproductive and haptoral characters. Comparison of the haptor musculature of the new species with that described for Haliotrema balisticus revealed a potential for additional taxonomic characters. Resolution of differences in the interpretation of the functional morphology of the muscle groups in the two species will require further investigation.
Subject(s)
Fishes, Poisonous/parasitology , Gills/parasitology , Trematoda/classification , Animals , Fish Diseases/parasitology , Trematoda/anatomy & histology , Trematode Infections/parasitology , Trematode Infections/veterinaryABSTRACT
Ten persons who had eaten at a seafood meal in North Carolina had gastrointestinal and neurologic symptoms suggestive of ciguatera fish poisoning. In five persons, the neurologic morbidity lasted 30 days or longer. The meal included barracuda, dolphin fish (mahimahi), and yellow-fin tuna, all of which were caught in North Carolina coastal waters. Analysis of food-specific attack rates implicated the barracuda as the probable cause of the outbreak. We believe this is the first suspected or confirmed report of ciguatera fish poisoning associated with consumption of fish harvested from mainland US coastal waters outside of Florida. Physicians treating patients with a syndrome resembling ciguatera fish poisoning should inquire about consumption of fish not only from areas where the disease is endemic but also from the southeastern US.
