Finding of Parasites Kudoa nova and Kudoa niluferi (Myxosporea: Kudoidae) in the Muscles of Alien Gobies Tridentiger trigonocephalus and Gobius cruentatus (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) in the Black Sea

The data on parasitizing of two species of myxosporeans of the genus Kudoa in the muscles of two species of alien gobies in the Black Sea off the coast of Sevastopol are presented. One isolate was found in the chameleon goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus , and the other one was found in the red-mouthed goby Gobius cruentatus . It is supposed that the source of infection for the alien fish were native gobies, in which the above species of parasites were previously known. A decrease in the size of spores and polar capsules as well as a slight deformation of the spore shape of K. niluferi were observed, which may be associated with parasitizing in an unusual host and in another part of the range. Molecular genetic identification of myxosporeans from two species of gobies confirms that the studied isolates belong to the genus Kudoa . Two 18S rDNA sequences of these isolates turned out to be very similar, but not identical to each other (differences of 4.87%), and also similar to two known species of goby myxosporeans from the Black Sea, K. nova and K. niluferi . The results obtained are the first evidence of parasitizing of both species of gobies by Myxosporea representatives in the area of invasion and also compensate for the absence of information on genomic variability of parasites of chameleon and red-mouthed gobies in the native range.