Transmission experiments to determine the relationship between Sphaerospora sp. from Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, and Sphaerospora truttae: a revised species description for S. truttae.

Extrasporogonic stages of Sphaerospora sp. from the kidneys of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) were successfully transmitted via intra-peritoneal injection to naive Atlantic salmon and brown trout (Salmo trutta L.). Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum) could not be infected in this way. Transmitted extrasporogonic stages continued their development to form sporogonic stages and mature spores in the kidney tubules. Extrasporogonic stages, sporogonic stages and mature spores of the parasite in both experimentally infected hosts were morphologically identical to the equivalent stage in naturally infected Atlantic salmon, although minor differences were seen in spore dimensions. A farm-based exposure experiment confirmed the susceptibility of brown trout to the salmon Sphaerospora. These results are consistent with the view that the salmon Sphaerospora is Sphaerospora truttae Fischer-Scherl, El-Matbouli et Hoffmann, 1986. The parasite is redescribed according to the guidelines of Lom and Arthur (1989) since details of extrasporogonic stages, the ultrastructure of extrasprogonic and sporogonic stage development, and of the parasite's epidemiology are known from Atlantic salmon but not from other reports.