Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:47:11.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Swimming behaviour of the cercaria of Transversotrema patialense

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

D. A. P. Bundy
D. A. P. Bundy
Affiliation:
University of London, King's College, London WC2R 2LS
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The spontaneous free-swimming behaviour of the cercaria of Transversotrema patialense was recorded using a high-speed micro-cinematographic technique. The sequential change in configuration of the cercaria was analysed quantitatively and the angular relationships of the cercarial components determined with respect to the trajectory of the organism. The cercaria swims tail-first while the tail stem oscillates through an arc of 100–120° with a frequency of 30 Hz at 24°C. The body region oscillates, almost exactly out of phase, through an arc of 180°C at the same frequency. The two furcae execute alternate effective and recovery strokes so that two symmetrical effective strokes are performed during each propulsive cycle. The Reynolds number of the swimming cercaria was approximately 2. The relative importance of viscous and inertial forces in cercarial propulsion is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , April 1981 , pp. 319 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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

Anderson, R. M. & Whifield, P. J. (1975). Survival characteristics of the free-living cercarial population of the ectoparasitic digenean, Transversotrema patialense (Soparkar, 1924). Parasitology 70, 295–310.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. M., Whitfield, P. J. & Dobson, A. P. (1978). Experimental studies of infection dynamics: infection of the definitive host by the cercariae of Transversotrema patialense. Parasitology 77, 189–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bundy, D. A. P. (1979). Studies on the biology of an ectoparasitic digenean, Transversotrema patialense (Soparkar, 1924) with special reference to the stages responsible for its transmission. Ph.D. thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Chapman, H. D. & Wilson, R. A. (1973). The propulsion of the cercariae of Himasthla secunda (Nicoll) and Cryptocotyle lingua. Parasitology 67, 1–5.Google Scholar
Dönges, J. (1964). Der Lebenszyklus von Posthodiplostomum cuticola (v. Nordmann, 1832) Dubois, 1939 (Trematoda: Displostomatidae). Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde 44, 211–26.Google Scholar
Franzini-Armstrong, C. & Porter, K. (1964). The Z-disc of skeletal muscle fibres. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und mikroskopische Anatoinie 61, 661–72.Google Scholar
Graefe, G., Hohorst, W. & Drager, H. (1967). Forked tail of the cercaria of Schistosoma mansoni – a rowing device. Nature, London 215, 207–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, J. & Hancock, G. J. (1955). The propulsion of sea-urchin spermatozoa. Journal of Experimental Biology 31, 802–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, W. (1974). Analyse der Invasionmechanismen der Cercarie von Diplostomum spathaceum. 1. Fixation and Penetration. International Journal for Parasitology 4, 311–19.Google Scholar
Hancock, G. J. (1953). The self propulsion of microscopic organisms through liquids. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, A 217, 96–121.Google Scholar
Lumsden, R. D. & Foor, W. E. (1968). Electron microscopy of schistosome cercarial muscle. Journal of Parasitology 54, 780–94.Google Scholar
Nuttman, C. J. (1975). The structure and behaviour of the cercariac of Schistosoma mansoni. Ph.D. thesis, University of York.Google Scholar
Peckham, G. (1970). A new method for minimising a sum of squares without calculating gradients. Computer Journal 13, 418–20.Google Scholar
Rees, F. G. (1971). Locomotion of the cercaria of Parorchis acanthus Nicoll, and the ultra-structure of the tail. Parasitology 62, 489–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitfield, P. J., Anderson, R. M. & Bundy, D. A. P. (1977). Experimental investigations on the behaviour of the cercariae of an ectoparasitic digenean, Transversotrema patialense: general activity patterns. Parasitology 75, 9–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitfield, P. J., Anderson, R. M. & Moloney, N. A. (1975). The attachment of cercariae of an ectoparasitic digenean, Transversotrema patialense, to the fish host: behavioural and ultrastructural aspects. Parasitology 70, 311–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, T. Y. (1978). Introduction to the scaling of aquatic animal locomotion. In: Scale Effects in Animal Locomotion (ed. Pedley, T. J.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar