Infection of the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides with the digenean trematode Maritrema arenaria was investigated at 17 sites along the Co. Down coastline. There was a low background level of infection. Abundance of M. arenaria, however, was substantially greater at sites close to fish factories and at a site close to a sewage works. Aggregation of M. arenaria in S. balanoides was least marked at low mean parasite burdens. The parasitic burden was related more closely to barnacle size at a site of heavy infection than at one with a low abundance. There was a significant association between height on the shore and number of encysted metacercariae in S. balanoides. This was independent of variation in host size. It is concluded that relationships that bring about overdispersion of digeneans, such as that between the size-structure of the host population and parasite infection, may be dependent on the overall abundance of the parasite.
