Study of Myxozoans (Myxozoa: Myxosporea) parasite of Characiformes fish Acestrorhynchus lacustris (Lütken, 1875) and Steindachnerina insculpta (Fernandez-Yepez, 1948) collected in the Peixe River, middle Tietê River, SP, Brazil

Abstract

The State of Sao Paulo has as one of its main rivers Tiete River, which is a strategic source for the state, with regard to its biodiversity, and mainly used in navigations and direct supplier of water for thousands of inhabitants of various cities where it is bordered. Currently the biodiversity of marine and freshwater ecosystems have been threatened, mainly by environmental problems resulting from environmental degradation, an example is the stretch of the middle Tiete river where the dam of Barra Bonita (SP) concentrates almost all the organic load of effluents from the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, leading to eutrophication with the loss of water quality. This basin hydrographic is located in the Peixe River, a tributary of the Barra Bonita dam whose sources are the slopes of the Cuesta of Botucatu, showing altitudinal gradient in a good state of conservation and water quality, with a rich biodiversity of fish associated with the presence of numerous lagoons. From another perspective, the studies related to parasites and other pathogens of aquatic organisms have considerably increased the relevance, especially those with potential hosts for growing and marketing, due to the significant increase of these activities in Brazil and worldwide. Among the agents responsible for diseases in fish are the mixosporideans, which can cause significant economic damage, with high mortality ratios. Based on the above aims of this study was to evaluate the biodiversity of parasites of mixosporideans two fish species by morphological characterization, due to socio-economic importance of this river for the region and diversity of fish, with great possibilities of description of new species.