Parasitic endohelminths with potential as biological indicators.
Abstract
The Baltic cod is a substock of the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, and it is divided into two subpopulations (the western and the eastern stock) living in the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea. This brackish water area is receiving high salinity water from the North Sea through the Danish straits (the Great Belt, Øresund, and Little Belt) and freshwater from precipitation and the drainage areas in surrounding countries whereby marked differences with regard to salinity conditions occur in various parts of the area. The biological and hydrographical conditions determine the parasite fauna found in the Baltic cod, and therefore several of the Baltic parasites are biological indicators. Recommended indicator parasites comprise trematodes (Cryptocotyle lingua, Diplostomum spathaceum, Lepidapedon elongatum, Hemiurus lühei, Brachyphallus crenatus), nematodes (Hysterothylacium aduncum, Contracaecum osculatum, Anisakis simplex, Pseudoterranova decipiens, Capillaria gracilis), and acanthocephalans (Echinorhynchus gadi, Corynosoma spp., Pomphorhynchus laevis).
Keywords
- Baltic cod
- parasites
- life cycle
- ecological indicators
1. Introduction
The Baltic Sea is a dynamic ecosystem composed of zoological and botanical communities continuously exposed to marked changes of salinity, temperature, and oxygen conditions [1]. It is receiving high salinity water from the North Sea through the Danish straits (Great Belt, Øresund, and Little Belt) whereas freshwater is received from precipitation and drainage areas in surrounding countries including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany whereby highly varying salinity occur in different parts of the basin. One of the main marine fish stocks in the Baltic Sea is a subpopulation of the Atlantic cod (
Parasite | Final host | First intermediate or transport host | Second intermediate or transport host | Paratenic/transport host | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fish-eating birds | Fish including cod | NA | Atlantic, western Baltic | ||
Fish-eating birds | Fish including cod | NA | Freshwaters and eastern Baltic | ||
Fish | Copepods | Pelagic fish including clupeids | Atlantic, western Baltic, Central Baltic | ||
Fish | Copepods, |
Pelagic fish including clupeids | Atlantic, western Baltic | ||
Fish including cod | Amphipods including |
NA | Atlantic to southern Baltic | ||
Fish including cod | Polychaetes, molluscs | NA | Atlantic, western Baltic | ||
Cetaceans (whales) | Euphausiaceans, copepods | Clupeids | Cod and other fish species | Atlantic with immigration of infected herring into western Baltic | |
Pinnipeds (seals) | Crustaceans (copepods, isopods, amphipods) | Cod | Cod | Atlantic, southern Baltic | |
Pinnipeds (seals) | Copepods, isopods, amphipods | Clupeids and other small fish | Cod | Atlantic to eastern Baltic | |
Fish including cod | Crustaceans including copepods | Small fish | Cod, eelpout | Atlantic to eastern Baltic | |
Fish including cod | Chironomid larvae, oligochaetes | Sand goby, dab | NA | Atlantic to southern Baltic | |
Fish including cod | Amphipods | NA | Various fish species | Atlantic to eastern Baltic | |
Fish including cod | Amphipods | NA | ? | Atlantic to eastern Baltic | |
Pinnipeds (seals) | Amphipods | Fish | Various fish species | Atlantic to eastern Baltic |
2. Parasites as indicator species
2.1 Digenean trematodes
The skin fluke
The eye flukes within the genus
Other digeneans such as
2.2 Acanthocephalans
Acanthocephalans comprise a group of endoparasitic worms which are prevalent in the Baltic cod.
Two species within the genus
2.3 Nematodes
The so-called herring worm or whale worm
The cod worm
The nematode larva
The very thin nematode
3. Conclusion
The Baltic cod population is vulnerable as it is constantly being exposed to extremely varying hydrographic and biological conditions due to its relatively stationary life cycle in the Baltic Sea. Due to its biological and economical importance of this cod stock, it is monitored and surveyed by the use of classical methodologies within fishery biology. Additional information and higher resolution of parameters, such as local migration within the Baltic and food intake (quantitative and qualitative), will be obtained in a parasitological examination of the fish. It is recommended to include regular parasitological investigation of Baltic cod in future survey programmes. The present work points to use of digenean metacercariae in the cod as indicators of performance in the western Baltic (black spot disease caused by
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