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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Parasitology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1431625

Molecular investigation of endoparasites of marine mammals (Cetacea: Mysticeti, Odontoceti) in the Western Mediterranean

Provisionally accepted
Nicolas R. Specht Nicolas R. Specht 1Gergő Keve Gergő Keve 1,2*Carolina Fernández-Maldonado Carolina Fernández-Maldonado 3Alejandra C. Caro Alejandra C. Caro 3Nóra Takács Nóra Takács 1,2Jenő Kontschán Jenő Kontschán 4,5SÁNDOR HORNOK SÁNDOR HORNOK 1,2
  • 1 University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
  • 2 HUN-REN-UVMB Climate Change: New Blood-sucking Parasites and Vector-borne Pathogens Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
  • 3 Seashore Environment and Fauna, Tarifa, Spain
  • 4 Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
  • 5 Department of Plant Sciences, Albert Kázmér Faculty of Mosonmagyaróvár, Széchenyi István University, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Whales, dolphins, and porpoises are susceptible to infections with protozoan and metazoan parasites. In this study, tissue samples, as well as flatworms and roundworms were collected from a common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), three short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), two striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), a harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), a long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) and a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus). These samples were molecularly analyzed. In one D. delphis, Toxoplasma gondii was detected in multiple organs, including the cerebellum. The cysts of the tapeworm Clistobothrium delphini and Clistobothrium grimaldii were identified in G. melas. Flukes collected from a D. delphis belong to Brachycladium atlanticum, while those removed S. coeruleoalba probably represent a new species. Four species of lungworms were also identified: Halocercus delphini in S. coeruleoalba, Halocercus sp. in T. truncatus, Stenurus globicephalae in G. melas, and a potentially new Pharurus sp. in P.phocoena.These findings show to the best of our knowledge for the first time, the presence of T. gondii DNA in D. delphis. The cerebellum of the animal was Toxoplasma-infected, which might be relevant to inadvertent stranding. In this study, new genetic markers were sequenced for several helminth parasites of marine mammals, possibly including undescribed species.

    Keywords: Brachycladiidae, Cestoda, Nematoda, Phyllobothriidae, Pseudaliidae, Toxoplasma gondii, Trematoda

    Received: 12 May 2024; Accepted: 01 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Specht, Keve, Fernández-Maldonado, Caro, Takács, Kontschán and HORNOK. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gergő Keve, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.