Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:52:22.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Utilization of brown trout Salmo trutta by Acanthocephalus clavula in an Irish lake: is this evidence of a host shift?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2024

C.J. Byrne
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College University of Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland
C.V. Holland*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College University of Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland
E. Walsh
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College University of Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland
C. Mulligan
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College University of Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland
C.R. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Hatherly Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4PS, UK
W.R. Poole
Affiliation:
Marine Institute Salmon Management Service Division, Newport, Co., Mayo, Ireland
*
*Fax: 353 1 6778094, Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The population biology of the fish acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus clavula was described from 161 wild brown trout, Salmo trutta sampled over a two-year period in Clogher Lake in the west of Ireland. Overall prevalence of the parasite was 86% and the mean abundance was 53 worms per fish. Despite the presence of large numbers of worms in the trout very few females (2%) attained full reproductive maturity. This suggests that trout is an accidental host. A sample of yellow eels, Anguilla anguilla was examined at a different time from the same lake. The prevalence of A. clavula was 97% and the average abundance was 8 worms per fish. In contrast to the situation in trout, the proportion of female worms attaining full reproductive maturity was 61% fulfilling the expected characteristic of a preferred definitive host. The possible explanations for the very high abundance of A. clavula in trout are discussed and include the influence of fluctuations in host populations, host diet and the absence of a potential competitor.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

References

Bates, R.M. & Kennedy, C.R. (1990) Interactions between the acanthocephalans Pomphorhynchus laevis and Acanthocephalus anguillae in rainbow trout: testing an exclusion hypothesis. Parasitology 100, 435444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bush, A.O., Lafferty, K.D., Lotz, J.M. & Shostak, A.W. (1997) Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisted. Journal of Parasitology 83, 575583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, C., Holland, C.V., Poole, W.R. & Kennedy, C.R. (2002) Macroparasite communities of wild and stocked brown trout. Parasitology 124, 435445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byrne, C., Holland, C.V., Kennedy, C.R. & Poole, W.R. (2003) Interspecific interactions between Acanthocephala in the intestine of brown trout: are they more frequent in Ireland? Parasitology 127, 399409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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, 5259.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, 363375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conneely, J.J. & McCarthy, T.K. (1988) The metazoan parasites of trout (Salmo trutta, L.) in Western Ireland. Polish Archives of Hydrobiology 35, 443460.Google Scholar
Dezfuli, B.S., Giari, L., DeBiaggi, S. & Poulin, R. (2001) Associations and interactions among intestinal helminths of the brown trout, Salmo trutta, in northern Italy. Journal of Helminthology 75, 331336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hine, P.M. & Kennedy, C.R. (1974) Observations on the distribution, specificity and pathogenicity of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller). Journal of Fish Biology 6, 521535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, J.C., Hobbs, R.P. & Leong, T.S. (1977) Populations in perspective: community organization and regulation of parasite populations. pp. 209245 in Esch, G.W (Ed.) Regulation of parasite populations. New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1984) The dynamics of a declining population of the acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus clavula in eels Anguilla anguilla in a small river. Journal of Fish Biology 25, 665677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1993) The dynamics of intestinal helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla in a small stream: long term changes in richness and structure. Parasitology 107, 7178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1997) Long-term and seasonal changes in composition and richness of intestinal helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla of an isolated English river. Folia Parasitologica 44, 267273.Google ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C.R. (2001) Metapopulation and community dynamics of helminth parasites of eels Anguilla anguilla in the River Exe system. Parasitology 122, 689698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C.R. & Lord, D. (1982) Habitat specificity of the acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus clavula (Dujardin, 1845) in eels Anguilla anguilla (L). Journal of Helminthology 56, 121129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C.R. & Hartvigsen, R.A. (2000) Richness and diversity of intestinal metazoan communities in brown trout Salmo trutta compared to those of eels Anguilla anguilla in their European heartlands. Parasitology 121, 5564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C.R. & Moriarty, C. (2002) Long-term stability in the richness and structure of helminth communities in eels, Anguilla anguilla, in Lough Derg, River Shannon, Ireland. Journal of Helminthology 76, 315322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C.R., Broughton, P.F. & Hine, P.M. (1978) The status of brown trout and rainbow trout Salmo trutta and Salmo gairdneri as hosts of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis. Journal of Fish Biology 13, 265275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R., Berrilli, F., Di Cave, D., De Liberato, C. & Orecchia, P. (1998) Composition and diversity of helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla in the River Tiber: long-term changes and comparison with insular Europe. Journal of Helminthology 72, 301306.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, 693713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyndon, A.R. & Kennedy, C.R. (2001) Colonisation and extinction in relation to competition and resource partitioning in acanthocephalans of freshwater fishes of the British Isles. Folia Parasitologica 48, 3746.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molloy, S., Holland, C.V. & Poole, W.R. (1993) Helminth parasites of brown and sea trout Salmo trutta L. from the west coast of Ireland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 93B (3), 137142.Google Scholar
Molloy, S., Holland, C.V. & O'Regan, M. (1995a) Population biology of Pomphorhynchus laevis in brown trout from two lakes in the west of Ireland. Journal of Helminthology 69, 229235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molloy, S., Holland, C.V. & Poole, W.R. (1995b) Metazoan parasite community structure in brown trout from two lakes in western Ireland. Journal of Helminthology 69, 237242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moriarty, C. (1992) Catches of Anguilla anguilla (L.) elvers on the Atlantic coast of Europe 1989–1990. Irish Fisheries Investigations A (Freshwater) 36, 3334.Google Scholar
Moriarty, C. & Decker, W. (Eds) (1997) Management of the European eel. Fisheries Bulletin (Dublin) 15, 110 pp.Google Scholar
O'Mahoney, E. (2003) An investigation of strain differences in Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala): an ecological, morphological and molecular approach. Unpublished PhD thesis. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.Google Scholar
Rauque, C.A., Viozzi, G.P. & Semenas, L.G. (2003) Component population study of Acanthocephalus tumescens (Acanthocephala) in fishes of Lake Moreno, Argentina. Folia Parasitologica 50, 7278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed