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Influence of the trematode Aphalloïdes cœlomicola Dollfus, Chabaud & Golvan, 1957 on the fecundity and survival of Pomatoschistus microps (Krøyer, 1838) (Teleostei: Gobiidæ)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1999

C. PAMPOULIE
Affiliation:
Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, F-13200 Arles, France
S. MORAND
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Biologie animale, Université de Perpignan, Centre de Biologie et d'Ecologie Tropicale et Méditerranéenne, Avenue de Villeneuve, F-66860 Perpignan Cedex, France
A. LAMBERT
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Parasitologie Comparée, Université Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Place E. Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
E. ROSECCHI
Affiliation:
Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, F-13200 Arles, France
J. L. BOUCHEREAU
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie Marine et Continentale, Université Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Place E. Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
A. J. CRIVELLI
Affiliation:
Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, F-13200 Arles, France

Abstract

Monthly data collected during 1993 in the Vaccarès lagoon (Rhône Delta, France) were used to investigate the influence of the trematode Aphalloïdes cœlomicola on the survival of the common goby Pomatoschistus microps, which acts both as second intermediate and definitive host. Prevalence of the parasite did not increase with fish size in either sex. Mean abundance and variance to mean abundance ratio gave evidence that the trematode could have an impact on host mortality. Gonad weight of parasitized females was reduced and the parasite seemed to provoke a gonadal regression above a certain parasitic biomass. Fecundity and egg diameters did not differ between parasitized and unparasitized females, we thus hypothesize that the energy content of eggs (composition in lipids and proteins) was probably modified as an adaptation to energy losses. Prevalence of infection in males compared to females and influence of the parasite on host survival and reproductive effort are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1999 Cambridge University Press

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