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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

CP6.2: Wildlife 1: Fish, Snakes & Turtles 5 min talks
Location: Lecture Theatre 3
Session Chair: Nathan Bott, RMIT University
Session Chair: Amanda Ash, Murdoch University

Presentation 2

Towards a better understanding of myxosporean parasites infecting Australian fishes

Cristian Trisca¹, Diana Bulla Castaneda¹, Cecilia Power¹, Terry Miller², Nathan J. Bott¹

1: RMIT University Melbourne, STEM College, School of Science; 2: Queensland Museum, Kurilpa, Head of Biodiversity and Geosciences

Myxosporean parasites are obligate spore-forming, microscopic, parasitic cnidarians. The genera Unicapsula and Kudoa are increasingly recognised as contributors to post-harvest myoliquefaction (“jellymeat”) in commercially important marine fishes. Despite the economic and social impact, these parasites remain understudied, particularly in Australian waters. Molecular data remains limited, with most studies relying on partial 18S and 28S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences. This study focuses on the genetic characterisation of myxosporean parasites infecting wild-caught Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) and Mahi Mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), and the identification of infections in previously unreported species, including Australasian Snapper (Pagrus auratus) and Australian Bonito (Sarda australis). Long-range amplification of the complete rDNA operon (18S-ITS1-5.8S-ITS2-28S) was performed using LongAMP Taq DNA polymerase followed by Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing. This resulted in the generation of high-coverage, near-complete rDNA operons without the need for multiple overlapping PCRs, addressing a key limitation in current myxosporean molecular studies. These findings expand the known host range of myxosporean parasites in Australian fisheries and provide genomic resources for future diagnostics and ecological studies. This work also highlights the need for improved molecular surveillance of myxosporean parasites in Australian waters using long-read sequencing approaches.