MYXOSPOREAN PARASITES OF THE GENUS KUDOA MEGLITSCH, 1947 FROM SOME GULF-OF-MEXICO FISHES - DESCRIPTION OF 2 NEW SPECIES AND NOTES ON THEIR ULTRASTRUCTURE

Species of the genus Kudoa infecting muscles are described from 7 fish hosts collected in salt and brackish waters along coastal Mississippi in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Two of 5 recorded species are regarde d as new species. Kudoa shkae n. sp. from trunk muscles of Arius felis has rather rounded spores, average 7.5 mum in side view, which are fo rmed within large polysporic plasmodia. The plasmodium boundary forms button-shaped projections abutting on intact sarcoplasm. K. leiostomi n. sp. from trunk muscles of Leiostomus xanthurus has spores quadrate in the apical view, averaging 9.1 mum in width; it also forms a large polysporic plasmodium. In spores of both species, the sporoplasm is re presented by the cell doublet composed of an enveloped and an envelopi ng cell. Other unidentified species of Kudoa infected other fishes: on e infected Cyprinodon variegatus, Fundulus grandis, and F. chrysotus; one infected Gambusia affinis; and one infected Menidia beryllina.