BIOLOGY OF TRYPANOSOMA-BURRESONI N-SP FROM THE AMERICAN EEL, ANGUILLA-ROSTRATA

Trypanosoma burresoni n. sp. was present in 62% of 284 American eels ( Anguilla rostrata) collected in 1987-1989 from the Saint Lawrence Rive r and Lake Ontario. This is a slender, monomorphic trypanosome with an ovate, anteriorly located nucleus and a round, subterminal kinetoplas t. The undulating membrane is well developed, and the free flagellum i s less than half body length. Experimental infections of T. burresoni were produced in the crop but not the proboscis sheath of the laborato ry-reared leeches Hemiclepsis marginata and Desserobdella phalera. Try panosomes that developed in D. phalera were not infective to eels. In culture, a dose-dependant inhibition of multiplication was observed by adding NaCl to the medium. Cultures that contained metatrypanosomes w ere not infective to eels.