Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T17:28:15.992Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The effect of the parasitic copepod, Mytilicola intestinalis (Steuer) upon the condition of mussels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

H. A. Cole
Affiliation:
Fisheries Experiment Station, Conway
R. E. Savage
Affiliation:
Fisheries Experiment Station, Conway

Extract

1. Mytilicola intestindlis (Steuer) was found in 100% of mussels examined from Blyth, Northumberland. These mussels varied in length between 3·5 and 7·5 cm.

2. The degree of infestation varied from two to fifty-nine parasites per mussel.

3. There was an inverse relationship between the condition of mussels of the size group 5·5–5·9 cm. and both the mean number of parasites per mussel and the mean number of parasites over 1·5 mm. in length per mussel.

4. The mean weight of flesh per mussel in the size group 5·5–5·9 cm. (shell length) was 3·206 g. from Blyth (parasitized) and 5·975 g. from Conway (not parasitized).

5. It is concluded that the presence of Mytilicola is associated with a serious reduction of condition in infested mussels.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1951

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

REFERENCES

Caspers, H. (1939). Uber Vorkommen und Metamorphose von Mytilicola intestinalis Steuer (Copepoda Paras.). In der südlichen Nordsee. Zool. Anz. 126, 161.Google Scholar
Ellenby, C. (1947). A copepod parasite of the mussel new to the British fauna. Nature, Lond., 159, 645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monod, Th. & Dollfus, R. Ph. (1932). Les copepodes parasites de mollusques. Ann. Parasit. Hum. Comp. 10, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mori, T. (1935). Mytilicola orientalis, a new species of parasitic Copepoda. Quoted from Odlaug, T. O. (1946).Google Scholar
Odlaug, T. O. (1946). The effect of the copepod Mytilicola orientalis upon the Olympia oyster Ostrea lurida. Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc. 65, 311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steuer, A. (1902). Mytilicola intestinalis n.gen n.sp. aus dem Darme von Mytilus galloprovincialis Lam. Zool. Anz. 25, 635.Google Scholar
Steuer, A. (1903). Mytilicola intestinalis n.sp. n.g. Arb. Zool. Inst. Univ. Wien, 15, 1.Google Scholar