Undescribed parasite, belonging to Marine Alveolate group I (MALV-I, Guillou et al. 2008), infecting Clausocalanus sp.
RP for red plasmodial parasite. This parasite formed a reddish cell mass that was visible inside the living host. The cell mass filled the intestinal tract with ramification into the body cavity, coloring almost the entire animal dark red. After the infected copepod had been incubated overnight in filtered seawater, the RP parasite passed through the digestive tract of its host and was expelled through the anus. A cell mass of irregular shape remained attached to the host. The final stage observed 5 days after the expulsion from the host was a number of seemingly non-motile cells with a diameter of 5-6 µm.
Body_spores_length: 5-6 µm
Sequence_SSU: EU189027
Sequence_SSU: EU189028