Fig. 5

Photomicrographs from histological sections of infected tissues of a daggertooth pike conger eel. A, B Histological sections of the stomach infected by eggs of Huffmanela persica sp. nov. at various stages of development as well as degenerated encysted metazoans (⁎). C, D Sections of the tunica serosa of the stomach parasitized with completely developed eggs. E Sections of the ovarian lamellae infected by both clusters of immature (➔) and developing (➤) eggs, representing immature and previtellogenic oocytes embedded within a loose fibro-granulomatous infiltration containing histiocytes and eosinophilic granular leukocytes (⁎). F Magnified view of histological section of infected ovary showing a fibro-granulomatous infiltrate surrounding clusters of eggs at different stages of development (mainly highly developed eggs, ➤). G High magnification (100×) view of a fully developed egg of H. persica (cross-sectional view) showing larva in-folded within the eggshell and a protruding polar plug at either end. H Less developed eggs with a nearly central nucleus (⁎) and thin eggshell layer and I fully developed eggs containing twisted larvae of H. persica cut on varying planes of section