New and ‘visiting’ fish species collected off the western coast of Poland (Baltic Sea) in 2007–2008 with a description of their parasite fauna

Abstract

The first occurrence of striped red mullet Mullus surmuletus in the Pomeranian Bay (in 2007) and the occurrence of three very rarely noted species (tub gurnard Chelidonichthys lucerna, Atlantic horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus, thicklip grey mullet Chelon labrosus) collected in 2007–2008 in the Pomeranian Bay, Szczecin Lagoon and Lake Dąbie are reported. Their expansion is probably due to increased sea temperatures resulting from climate change, as well as the inflow of saline water. The ‘visitors’ hosted eight pathogens from four taxonomic groups: Protozoa, Nematoda, Acanthocephala and Mollusca. Nematodes, the most numerous ones, were found in three host species. All the parasite species were new for the hosts examined; only the larvae of the acanthocephalan Corynosoma strumosum had already been recorded in one of the hosts (Chelidonichthys lucerna). The stomachs of almost all the fish examined were empty, but the species composition of the parasite fauna found showed that the fish must have ingested some food in the Pomeranian Bay.