The importance of this study to investigate some of the myxosporidian and microsporidian parasites infecting economically important marine fish of the Red Sea in Egypt by means of morphologic and morphometric characterization of these parasites, in addition to molecular analysis of their small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) and comparing them with those previously recorded on the GenBank. Also, to characterize some of the important structures of myxo- and microsporidian parasites at the ultrastructural level which are considered as key features for their classification; such as...

Crustaceans have a cyclic phenomenon, moulting, for development and growth that is not encountered in most other groups of aquaculture animals. Biochemical and physiological changes in various tissues of crustaceans occur during the moult cycle. Changes to the immune components of prawns in association with moulting have also been studied to a lesser extent. Hematological variation in both total hemocyte count (THC) and differentiated hemocyte count (DHC) was recorded in individuals and between species during the moult cycle. In the current investigation, we characterized the different...