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Intestinal helminth parasites in flounder Platichthys flesus from the River Thames: an infracommunity analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2024

S. Guillen-Hernandez  and
P.J. Whitfield
S. Guillen-Hernandez*
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, King's College, London, Franklin Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NN, UK
P.J. Whitfield*
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, King's College, London, Franklin Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NN, UK
*
† Present address: Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootécnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, A.P. 4-116, Col. Itzimná, 97100 Merida, Yucatán, México
* Author for correspondence: Fax: 0207 848 4195 E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

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An analysis was undertaken of intestinal helminth communities in flounder Platichthys flesus from two sites on the River Thames. A comparison was made between helminth community richness and diversity from these sites at the component and infracommunity levels. At the component community level, a richer and more diverse parasite community was found in flounder from the Tilbury location (marine influence) than that from the Lots Road location (freshwater influence). At the infracommunity level, more parasite species and parasite individuals per host were found at Lots Road and the percentage of similarity values were low at both locations. Helminth species with high prevalence values in the parasite communities of the flounder are the dominant species in any individual fish, harbouring multi-specific infections. The presence of more invertebrate species, which are intermediate hosts in the helminth life cycle in the Thames, fish vagility and the high prevalence and abundance values of Pomphorhynchus laevis in the flounder, may explain the differences between the two locations.

Type
Review Article
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 78 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 297 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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