Monitoring of infections by protozoa of the genera Nematopsis, Perkinsus and Porospora in the smooth venus clam Callista chione from the North-Western Adriatic Sea (Italy).

Marketable smooth venus clams Callista chione from natural banks of Chioggia (Venice) and Goro (Ferrara), North-Western Adriatic Sea (Italy), were examined for protozoan parasites from November 1996 to November 1998. Out of the 375 bivalves examined, 149 (39.7%) were infected by Nematopsis sp. and 325 (86.7%) by Porospora sp. Oocysts of Nematopsis sp. were present with a prevalence that varied from 100% in November 1996 to 5% in June 1998; cystic and naked sporozoites of Porospora sp. were very common, with a prevalence of 100%. Out of the 229 bivalves examined between January and November 1998, 63 (27.5%) were also infected by Perkinsus sp.; the prevalence of Perkinsus sp. varied from 9.1% in January to 50% in February. To our knowledge this is the first report of Porospora sp. and Perkinsus sp. in C. chione.

Prevalence of Mytilicola intestinalis (Copepoda: Mytilicolidae) and Urastoma cyprinae (Turbellaria: Hypotrichinidae) in marketable mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis in Italy.

Marketable mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis traded with commercial certification from production sites in Italy and abroad (France, Spain) were examined for the presence of Mytilicola intestinalis (Copepoda: Mytilicolidae) and Urastoma cyprinae (Turbellaria: Hypotrichinidae) from October 1994 to February 1996. The prevalence of M. intestinalis was 4.1% and 4.7% respectively in mussels from Lerici (La Spezia) and S. Pietro in Volta (Venice), whereas it rose to 57.9% in the samples from Spain. M. intestinalis was absent in mussels from Chioggia (Venice), Ganzirri (Messina), Taranto, Trieste and France. The prevalence of U. cyprinae varied considerably, ranging from 0.3% in mussels from Trani (Bari) to 33.2% and 86.3% respectively in those from Chioggia and Trieste. It was 85.7% in samples from France and 63.7% in those from Spain.