Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:35:18.943Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Habitat specificity of the acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus clavula (Dujardin, 1845) in eels Anguilla anguilla (L)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2009

C. R. Kennedy  and
D. Lord
C. R. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, The University, Exeter, EX4 4PS, UK
D. Lord
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, The University, Exeter, EX4 4PS, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The habitat specificity of the acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus clavula in the alimentary tract of eels was studied in natural infections and in fish maintained experimentally under different regimes. The parasite exhibited a preference for a particular region (55 to 65%) of the alimentary canal which did not differ in different species of host, but habitat specificity was not very precise as there was considerable variation between individual hosts and A. clavula was capable of surviving and maturing in all regions of the intestine. The mean position of males was slightly anterior to that of females, and the over-all sex ratio was in favour of females. At high levels of infection the range of the parasites was extended and the mean position was significantly more anterior when compared to single worm infections. The parasite remains in the same site throughout the course of an infection: there was no posterior migration and gravid females occurred in the same proportion in all regions of the intestine. The mean position of the parasite did not change when the host was starved, or maintained in 100% sea water or with reduced aeration or at high temperatures. The results were compared with the habitat specificity exhibited by other species of freshwater fish acanthocephalans, and it was concluded that A. clavula was as adaptable and hardy as its present host, the eel.

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 121 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amin, O. M. (1975) Host and seasonal associations of Acanthocephalus parksidel Amin, 1974 (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchidae) in Wiscons in fishes. Journal of Parasitology, 61, 318–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amin, O. M. & Burrows, J. M. (1977) Host and seasonal associations of Echinorhynchus salmonis (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchidae) in Lake Michigan fishes. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 34, 325–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Awachie, J. B. E. (1966) The development and life history of Echinorhynchus truttae Schrank, 1788 (Acanthocephala). Journal of Helminthology, 40, 11–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullock, W. L. (1963) Intestinal histology of some salmonid fishes with particular reference to the histopathology of acanthocephalan infections. Journal of Morphology, 112, 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, L. H. (1969) Competitive exclusion between two intestinal parasites of the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Journal of Parasitology, 55, 775–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chubb, J. C. (1964) Occurrence of Echinorhynchus clavula (Dujardin, 1845) nec Hamann, 1892 (Acanthocephala) in the fish of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), Merionethshire. Journal of Parasitology, 50, 52–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crompton, D. W. T. (1973) The sites occupied by some parasitic helminths in the alimentary tract of vertebrates. Biological Reviews, 48, 27–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grey, A. J. & Hayunga, E. G. (1980) Evidence for alternative site selection by Glaridacris laruei (Cestoidea: Caryophyllidea) as a result of interspecific competition. Journal of Parasitology, 66, 371–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1972) The effect of temperature and other factors upon the establishment and survival of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala) in goldfish, Carassius auratus. Parasitology, 65, 283–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C. R., Broughton, P. F. & Hine, P. M. (1976) The sites occupied by the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis in the alimentary canal of fish. Parasitology, 72, 195–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C R., Broughton, P. F. & Hine, P. M. (1978) The status of brown and rainbow trout, Salmo trutta and S. gairdneri, as hosts of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis. Journal of Fish Biology, 13, 265–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muzzall, P. M. (1980) Ecology and seasonal abundance of three acanthocephalan species infecting white suckers in SE New Hampshire. Journal of Parasitology, 66, 127–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uglem, G. L. & Beck, S. M. (1972) Habitat specificity and correlated aminopeptidase activity in the acanthocephalans Neoechinorhynchus cristatus and N. crassus. Journal of Parasitology, 58, 911–920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valtonen, E. T. (1980) Metechinorhynchus salmonis (Müller, 1780) (Acanthocephala) as a parasite of the whitefish in the Bothnian Bay. II. Sex ratio, body length and embryo development in relation to season and site in the intestine. Acta Parasitologica Polonica, 27, 301–307.Google Scholar