Fungi associated with the skin of a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) from South Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1. Micrographs of fungi associated with southern right whale neonate skin. (A, B) Scanning electron micrographs showing fungal growth on the whale skin. (B) Scanning electron micrograph of an early formation of a fruiting body. (C) Fruiting bodies (ascomata) of C. globosum on a section of whale skin. (D) Light micrograph of unusually formed cells of C. globosum starting to form the textura intrica/epidermoidea of the peridium (fruit body wall).

Table 1. Fungal isolates taken from different skin sections of a southern right whale neonate, cultured on different growth media, identified using morphology and sequencing data from the 26S and ITS regions of the ribosomal gene cluster

Isolate no.	Sampling site	Isolation medium	Identity	Accession no.
W47	Mid-ventral 4	Bird seed agar	Chaetomium murorum	GQ241932^a
W48	Mid-dorsal 2	Malt extract agar	Chaetomium globosum	GQ241934^a
W49	Right lateral 3	Half strength Potato dextrose agar	Chaetomium murorum	GQ241931^a
W50	Right lateral 5	Sabouraud glucose agar	Penicillium coprophilum	GQ241935^b

Figure 2. Maximum parsimony phylogenetic tree based on rDNA partial large subunit sequences (±500 bp) of whale skin fungal isolates and selected sequences from Genbank. Numbers above branches indicate bootstrap values (>50%) from 1000 replicates.