The Animal Parasites of ManFantham, Harold Benjamin
Science
The Animal Parasites of Man
Fantham, Harold Benjamin
Medical parasitology
A number of other parasitic Ciliates are known, among which
_Ichthyophthirius multifiliis_, destructive to fish, is important. It
lives in the skin and the layers immediately below it, forming small
whitish pustules which may become confluent. The pustules are most
common on the head and fins, but occur also on the eyes and gills of
the host. The young parasite, which is one of many formed in a cyst,
is very small. At first it is free swimming, but soon attaches itself
to the skin of a fish. It bores inwards and becomes surrounded by the
irritated skin. There it attains a relatively large size, being 500 µ
to 750 µ and occasionally more in diameter. The body has a rounded
terminal mouth, short cytopharynx and a number of minute contractile
vacuoles. The macronucleus is large and horseshoe-shaped; the small
micronucleus is only seen in the very young animal. When full grown,
the organism encysts and forces its way to the surface and bursts
through, leaving a small, gaping wound behind. The cyst sinks to the
bottom of the water, nuclear multiplication occurs and a number of
young parasites are produced, which leave the cyst and either attack
new hosts or else perish.
_Opalina ranarum_, parasitic in the rectum and urinary bladder of
frogs and toads, shows great degradation and simplification due
to parasitism, possessing no separate micronuclei, no cytostome,
cytopharynx or cytopyge. It has many macronuclei, and is a large
parasite. During summer and autumn nuclear multiplication followed
by division of the body occurs, the process being repeated after the
daughter forms have grown to the size of their parent. In spring, the
Opalina divide rapidly, but do not grow much before dividing again.
Finally, tiny forms, containing three to six nuclei, encyst and pass
from the host with the fæces. As these latter are greedily devoured
by tadpoles, the _Opalina_ gain new hosts in which they develop.
THE CHLAMYDOZOA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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