Five specimens of Arapaima gigas caught in the Araguaia River (State of Mato Grosso, Brazil) were investigated for helminths in 2004. Numerous adult specimens of the rhapidascarid nematode Goezia spinulosa were found in stomach ulcers in all the specimens of A. gigas and were surrounded by thickening of the mucosa. The gastric glands of all the fish were necrotic and there was a severe and diffuse inflammatory reaction composed of eosinophils (which were predominant), lymphocytes and rare macrophages in the mucosa, submucosa and muscle layer. This is the first report of tissue lesion occurrences in this host, in the presence of G. spinulosa, and it confirms the high pathogenicity of this parasite species.
Pathology; neotropical fish; Araguaia River; Brazil
