Morphological and molecular characterization of Trichodina (Ciliophora: Peritrichia) species from cultured starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus)

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Trichodinid ciliates were found from the skin scrapings of culture starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus) obtained from a local fisheries market in Gangneung. Skin scrapings were prepared and stained by either Giemsa solution or silver nitrate impregnation, for morphological observation. PCR analysis was also conducted to make molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis. Morphological parameters obtained from our specimens were the most similar with Trichodina hokkaidoensis of barfin flounder from Japan and also olive flounder from Korea. The partial 18S rDNA sequences of our specimen (n=7) also showed 100.0% similarity with those of barfin flounder and olive flounder. Several trichodinids are known to have a broad host specificity and this is thought to be the case for T. hokkaidoensis. Starry flounder is a strong candidate for land-based aquaculture production, as a target species for prospective aquaculture diversification and therefore pathogenic potentials of this ciliate should be considered.