A Pirhemocyton-like parasite of the Blenny, Blennius pholis L. (Teleostei; Blenniidae) and its relationship to Immanoplasma Neumann, 1909

A light and electron microscopic study was made of a Pirhemocyton-like infection of the red blood cells of B. pholis, an intertidal fish. Electron micrographs show that polygonal particles occur in the cytoplasm of infected cells; these particles resemble the supposed icosahedral virus of Pirhemocyton. Inclusion bodies associated with the infection also resemble those seen in Pirhemocyton.Immanoplasma Neumann, 1909, was re-examined from blood films taken from three infected Scyliorhinus canicula collected in 1970. A marked similarity was noted between the inclusion bodies of the Blenny infection, Pirhemocyton and the Immanoplasma body. The nature of the numerous particles in the infected red blood cells of S. canicula is not known, therefore, Immanoplasma is only tentatively included in the group of known and suspected icosahedral cytoplasmic deoxyriboviruses.