Seasonality of two gill monogeneans from two freshwater fish from an oligotrophic lake in Northeast Finland

Abstract

The seasonal occurrence of Dactylogyrus amphibothrium and Discocotyle sagittata from the gills of ruffe ( Gymnocephalus cernuus) and whitefish ( Coregonus acronius), respectively was studied in Lake Yli-Kitka, a large oligotrophic lake in Northeast Finland. The lake, located near the Arctic Circle, is ice-covered for 7–8 months of the year. The prevalence of D. amphibothrium infection was 70.7% and remained high throughout all size-classes of fish. The length distribution and developmental stages of the worms indicated two generations per year. The overwintering generation produces a summer generation which lives for only a few weeks and matures in July. Discocotyle sagittata has only one generation yearly. Its worms mature and produce eggs in July–August and recruitment of the new generation starts in the autumn. The prevalence of D. sagittata infection varied between 40% (in January) and 6.7% (in September); smaller fish were more heavily infected than larger fish.