Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T12:16:48.112Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Metazoan parasite community structure in brown trout from two lakes in western Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

S. Molloy ,
C. Holland  and
R. Poole
S. Molloy
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
C. Holland*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
R. Poole
Affiliation:
Salmon Research Agency, Newport, Co. Mayo, Ireland
*
* Author for correspondence.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A total of 549 brown trout were caught from two lakes, Lough Feeagh and Bunaveela Lake, in the Burrishoole system, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Seven species of metazoan parasite were detected but only four species occurred in ≥10% of the sample. The parasite community of the trout was dominated by a single species, Pomphorhynchus laevis, with a prevalence of 58%. Only one allogenic helminth species was recorded from the trout, Diphyllobothriurn ditremum, with the community mainly comprising autogenic species. Few differences were found between the two lakes, although the larger lake, Lough Feeagh, did contain some trout which harboured more parasite species and had, on average, fish with higher numbers of individual parasites. Measures of species richness and diversity were very low, indicating an impoverished helminth community with little potential for interspecific interactions. Host age was found to significantly influence these indices of infracommunity structure.

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 237 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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

Anderson, R.M. & Gordon, D.M. (1982) Processes influencing the distribution of parasite numbers within host populations with special emphasis on parasite-induced host mortalities. Parasitology 85, 373–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Balbuena, J.A. & Raga, J.A. (1993) Intestinal helminth communities of the long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) off the Faroe Islands. Parasitology 106, 327–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, A.F., Chubb, J.C. & Veltkamp, C.J. (1986) A key to the species of Acanthocephala parasitic in British freshwater fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 28, 327–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conneely, J.J. & McCarthy, T.K. (1984) The metazoan parasites of freshwater fishes in the Corrib catchment area, Ireland. Journal of Fish Biology 24, 363–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esch, G.W. (1971) Impact of ecological succession on the parasite fauna in centrarchids from oligotrophic and eutrophic ecosystems. American Midland Naturalist 86,160–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esch, G.W., Kennedy, C.R.Bush, A.O. & Aho, J.M. (1988) Patterns in helminth communities in freshwater fish in Great Britain: alternative strategies for colonization. Parasitology 96, 519–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartvigsen, R. & Halvorsen, O. (1993) Common and rare trout parasites in a small landscape system. Parasitology 106, 101–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1978) An analysis of the metazoan parasitocoenoses of brown trout from British lakes.Journal of Fish Biology 13, 255–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1984) The status of flounders, Platichthyus flesus L., as hosts of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis and its survival in marine conditions. Journal of Fish Biology 25, 665–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1990) Helminth communities in freshwater fish: structured communities or stochastic assemblages? pp. 131–156 in Esch, G.W., Bush, A.O. and Aho, J.M. (Eds) Parasite communities: Patterns and Processes. New York and London, Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1993) Field evidence for interactions between the acanthocephalans Acanthocephalus anguillae and Acanthocephalus lucii in eels, Anguilla anguilla. Ecological Parasitology 1, 122–134.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. & Moriarty, C. (1987) Co-existence of congeneric species of Acanthocephala: Acanthocephalus lucii and Acanthocephalus anguillae in eels Anguilla anguilla in Ireland. Parasitology 95, 301–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C.R., Bates, R.M. & Brown, A.F. (1989) Discontinuous distributions of the fish acanthocephalans Pomphorhynchus laevis and Acanthocephalus anguillae in Britain and Ireland: an hypothesis. Journal of Fish Biology 34, 607–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R., Broughton, P.F. & Hine, P.M. (1987) The status of brown and rainbow trout. Salmo trutta and Salmo gairdneri as hosts of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis. Journal of Fish Biology 13, 265–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R., Bush, A.O. & Aho, J.M. (1986) Patterns in helminth communities: why are birds and fish different? Parasitology 93, 205–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leong, T.S. & Holmes, J.C. (1981) Communities of metazoan parasites in open water fishes of Cold Lake, Alberta. Journal of Fish Biology 18, 693–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcogliese, D.J. & Cone, D.K. (1991) Importance of lake characteristics in structuring parasite communities of salmonids from insular Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69, 2962–2967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margolis, L., Esch, G.W., Holmes, J.C., Kuris, A.M. & Schad, G.A. (1982) The use of ecological terms in parasitology (Report of anad hoc committee of the American Society of Parasitologists). Journal of Parasitology 68, 131–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molly, S.M., Holland, C.V. & Poole, R. (1993) Helminth parasites of brown trout and sea trout Salmo trutta L. from the west coast of Ireland. Biology and Environment 93B, 137–142.Google Scholar
Pielou, E.C. (1975) Ecological diversity. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Reynolds, J.D., Spence, J.A. & West, A.B. (1963) The Cottage River Experiment. pp. 39–62. in Report of the Salmon Research Trust of Ireland 1963.Google Scholar
Went, A.E.J. (1950) Notes on the introduction of some freshwater fish into Ireland. Journal of the Department of Agriculture. Republic of Ireland 47, 3–8.Google Scholar
Wisniewiski, W.L. (1958) Characterisation of the parasitofauna of an eutrophic lake. Acta Parasitologica Polonica 6, 1–64.Google Scholar