Hematozoa of marine fish from Ungava Bay and adjacent northwestern Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Blood of marine fish and gastrointestinal contents of piscivorous leeches from Ungava Bay and northern Labrador were examined for hematozoans and compared with samples taken from southern Labrador during 1982–1983. A limited number of fish from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic were also examined for hematozoans. Prevalence of trypanosome and piroplasm infections was greater in fish taken from Ungava Bay than in those from northern or southern Labrador whereas hemogregarines infected more fish in the latter area. Similarly, prevalence of trypanosome infections in the leech Johanssonia arctica was correspondingly higher in samples from Ungava Bay and southern Labrador. Two additional species of leeches, Calliobdella nodulifera and Platybdella anarrhichae, from southern Labrador fish, harbored asexual stages of species of Haemogregarina. It is suggested that the prevalence of infections in fish is associated with leech abundance, which is higher in Ungava Bay and off the southern coast of Labrador. Two of 22 fish of two species from Ellesmere Island harbored hemogregarine infections. It is likely that a comprehensive study of hematozoans of arctic fish might provide information on their relationship to species that occur in the subarctic region of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.