scholarly journals Non-native gobies share predominantly immature parasites with local fish hosts

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Markéta Ondračková ◽  
Michal Janáč ◽  
Jost Borcherding ◽  
Joanna Grabowska ◽  
Veronika Bartáková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 73-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hooi-Ling Lee ◽  
Donald DeAngelis ◽  
Hock-Lye Koh

This paper discusses the spatial distribution patterns of the various species of the Unionid mussels as functions of their respective life-cycle characteristics. Computer simulations identify two life-cycle characteristics as major factors governing the abundance of a species, namely the movement range of their fish hosts and the success rate of the parasitic larval glochidia in finding fish hosts. Core mussels species have fish hosts with large movement range to disperse the parasitic larval glochidia to achieve high levels of abundance. Species associated with fish host of limited movement range require high success rate of finding fish host to achieve at least an intermediate level of abundance. Species with low success rate of finding fish hosts coupled with fish hosts having limited movement range exhibit satellite species characteristics, namely rare in numbers and sparse in distributions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jemma L Geoghegan ◽  
Francesca Di Giallonardo ◽  
Michelle Wille ◽  
Ayda Susana Ortiz-Baez ◽  
Vincenzo A Costa ◽  
...  

Abstract Revealing the determinants of virome composition is central to placing disease emergence in a broader evolutionary context. Fish are the most species-rich group of vertebrates and so provide an ideal model system to study the factors that shape virome compositions and their evolution. We characterized the viromes of nineteen wild-caught species of marine fish using total RNA sequencing (meta-transcriptomics) combined with analyses of sequence and protein structural homology to identify divergent viruses that often evade characterization. From this, we identified twenty-five new vertebrate-associated viruses and a further twenty-two viruses likely associated with fish diet or their microbiomes. The vertebrate-associated viruses identified here included the first fish virus in the Matonaviridae (single-strand, negative-sense RNA virus). Other viruses fell within the Astroviridae, Picornaviridae, Arenaviridae, Reoviridae, Hepadnaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Hantaviridae, Filoviridae, and Flaviviridae, and were sometimes phylogenetically distinct from known fish viruses. We also show how key metrics of virome composition—viral richness, abundance, and diversity—can be analysed along with host ecological and biological factors as a means to understand virus ecology. Accordingly, these data suggest that that the vertebrate-associated viromes of the fish sampled here are predominantly shaped by the phylogenetic history (i.e. taxonomic order) of their hosts, along with several biological factors including water temperature, habitat depth, community diversity and swimming behaviour. No such correlations were found for viruses associated with porifera, molluscs, arthropods, fungi, and algae, that are unlikely to replicate in fish hosts. Overall, these data indicate that fish harbour particularly large and complex viromes and the vast majority of fish viromes are undescribed.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 2078-2080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Poulin ◽  
Gerard J. FitzGerald

Females of the ectoparasitic crustacean Argulus canadensis must leave their fish hosts at least temporarily to deposit their eggs on the substrate. To test the hypothesis that this difference in reproductive behaviour between the two sexes could result in male-biased sex ratios on their stickleback hosts, we sampled sticklebacks in tide pools of a Quebec salt marsh from early July to early September 1986. During this period, fish harboured significantly more male than female A. canadensis. Laboratory experiments were done to test two alternative hypotheses offered to explain this biased sex ratio. The first hypothesis was that male A. canadensis were more successful than females in attacking their stickleback hosts; however, we found no differences in attack success on their hosts between the two parasite sexes. The second hypothesis was that sticklebacks ate more female than male A. canadensis. Although males were less vulnerable to fish predation than females, the difference was not significant. We conclude that sexual differences in reproductive behaviour, i.e., egg deposition behaviour of females, can account for the male-biased sex ratio of A. canadensis on sticklebacks.


Parasitology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 134 (12) ◽  
pp. 1767-1774 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. N. MIKHEEV ◽  
A. F. PASTERNAK ◽  
E. T. VALTONEN

SUMMARYWe tested the hypothesis that host specificity in ectoparasites does not depend exclusively on the features of the host but also on surrounding habitats, using 2 fish ectoparasites, Argulus coregoni and A. foliaceus (Crustacea: Branchiura), occurring sympatrically in Finnish lakes. Although these parasites are considered to be of low specificity, we found that the larger of the 2 species, A. coregoni developed a pronounced preference for salmonid hosts at the beginning of maturation (defined by the presence of copulating specimens). Argulus foliaceus infects a much wider range of fish hosts. We showed that specialization of A. coregoni on salmonids does not necessarily result from incompatibility with other fishes, but could instead reflect higher sensitivity of oxygen depletion compared with A. foliaceus. Adult A. coregoni may meet these demands by attaching to salmonids, the typical inhabitants of well-aerated waters. Young parasites of both species showed little host specificity and attached mainly to fishes with higher body reflectivity. In host choice experiments, A. coregoni of 4–5 mm length preferred salmonids (rainbow trout) to cyprinids (roach) irrespective of the type of fish host, on which it had been previously grown in the laboratory. We suggest that such an innate ontogenetic shift in host preference maintains the major part of the parasite population on its principal host, ensuring successful reproduction within suitable habitats.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.K. Bashirullah ◽  
M.T. Diaz

AbstractThe qualitative and quantitative parameters of temporal distribution ofCucullanus tripapillatusandCucullanus chrysophrydesin the intestine ofOrthopristis ruberin the Caribbean Sea on the north of Margarita Island, Venezuela were analysed. A total of 540 fish were collected at random from the catch of commercial trawlers during 1982–83 and 1992–93. Both species ofCucullanuswere found throughout the year; prevalence and mean intensity ofC. tripapillatuswere higher than that ofC. chrysophrydes. A significant difference was found in infection between the two years of sampling. Female worms were more abundant than male in both years. Both species exhibited pronounced prevalence and maturity in September and March of each year, indicating seasonality. The patterns of occurrence of the two species ofCucullanusinO. ruberdid not change in the 10-year interval but the host size and number of parasites declined, which may be due to over-exploitation of definitive fish hosts.


Author(s):  
Wouter Koch ◽  
Peter Boer ◽  
Johannes IJ. Witte ◽  
Henk W. Van der Veer ◽  
David W. Thieltges

A conspicuous part of the parasite fauna of marine fish are ectoparasites, which attach mainly to the fins or gills. The abundant copepods have received much interest due to their negative effects on hosts. However, for many localities the copepod fauna of fish is still poorly known, and we know little about their temporal stability as long-term observations are largely absent. Our study provides the first inventory of ectoparasitic copepods on fish from the western Wadden Sea (North Sea) based on field data from 1968 and 2010 and additional unpublished notes. In total, 47 copepod parasite species have been recorded on 52 fish host species to date. For two copepod species parasitizing the European flounder (Platichthys flesus), a quantitative comparison of infection levels between 1968 and 2010 was possible. Whereas Acanthochondria cornuta did not show a change in the relationship between host size and infection levels, Lepeophtheirus pectoralis shifted towards the infection of smaller hosts, with higher infection levels in 2010 compared to 1968. These differences probably reflect the biology of the species and the observed decrease in abundance and size of flounders during the last decades. The skin-infecting L. pectoralis can probably compensate for dwindling host abundance by infecting smaller fish and increasing its abundance per given host size. In contrast, the gill cavity inhabiting A. cornuta probably faces a spatial constraint (fixed number of gill arches), thus limiting its abundance and setting a minimum for the host size necessary for infections.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Khan ◽  
D. E. Barker ◽  
K. Williams-Ryan ◽  
R. G. Hooper

Samples of longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus) were exposed to sediment contaminated with crude oil or pulp and paper mill effluent for periods up to 13 months in the laboratory. Other samples were collected at sites where crude oil or effluent from a pulp and paper mill are discharged. The intensity of gill infections of Trichodina spp. on exposed fish was significantly higher than on controls 5, 9, and 13 months after exposure. The intensity of the ciliates was also greater on sculpins collected near an oil-receiving terminal than on those sampled 5 km from the polluted site. Field collections of longhorn and shorthorn (Myoxocephalus scorpius) sculpins at and distant from a pulp and paper mill had high and low intensities of the ciliates, respectively. Similarly, the intensity of trichodinid ciliates was also significantly greater in longhorn sculpins exposed to effluent-contaminated sediment than in controls 5 months after exposure. The results suggest that the intensity of gill-inhibiting species such as trichodinids in susceptible fish hosts increases after chronic exposure to crude oil and to pulp and paper mill effluent, and the parasites may serve as indicators of pollution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Jmii Chine ◽  
M. Nachev ◽  
B. Sures ◽  
L. Gargouri

Abstract Acanthocephalans belonging to the species Neoechinorhynchus agilis were collected from two mullets, Mugil cephalus and Chelon ramada from Ichkeul Lagoon in northern Tunisia. Collected parasites, as well as tissues of their hosts (muscle, liver and intestine), were analysed for trace elements (silver, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), selenium, vanadium (V), zinc) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Our results showed different accumulation patterns of trace elements in fish tissues and parasites. Among the host tissues, liver accumulated the highest metal amounts. Acanthocephalans showed Ni, Pb and V in significantly higher concentrations compared to their host's tissues. Further, the calculated bioconcentration factors demonstrated a 390-fold higher Pb accumulation in the parasite compared to fish muscle. This study is the first field survey in Tunisia dealing with elements’ uptake in parasites and their hosts. Our results corroborate the usefulness of the acanthocephalans for biomonitoring of metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems and promote more research in order to understand host–parasite systems in brackish waters of the Mediterranean area.


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