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Pontobdella muricata infection of Raja clavata and Dasyatis pastinaca off the coast of Lesvos, Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2013

Vasileios Bakopoulos  and
Vasiliki-Chrysa Ksidia
Vasileios Bakopoulos*
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Sciences, School of The Environment, University of The Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos, Greece
Vasiliki-Chrysa Ksidia
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Sciences, School of The Environment, University of The Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos, Greece
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: V. Bakopoulos, Department of Marine Sciences, School of The Environment, University of The Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos, Greece email: v.bakopoulos@marine.aegean.gr
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Abstract

An investigation of ectoparasites of skates caught off the coast of Lesvos Island, north-eastern Aegean, Greece was performed from May 2010 to February 2012. One parasite, identified as the marine leech Pontobdella muricata, was found on the skin of 0.43% of Raja clavata and 3.6% of Dasyatis pastinaca specimens examined during the investigation period. This is the first record of D. pastinaca as being a host to P. muricata. Macroscopic and microscopic observation of the lesions caused by the parasitism, revealed haemorrhages and swelling of the skin of R. clavata, a milder inflammation of the skin of D. pastinaca, congestion, necrosis and liquefaction of the skin at the site of leech attachment and a lesion with disappearance of upper skin layers after the detachment of the leech.

Keywords

marine leechskatesPontobdella muricataRaja clavataDasyatis pastinaca
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 2 , March 2014 , pp. 405 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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