The Effects of Glochidia Infection on the Metabolic Rate and Hypoxia Tolerance of Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus and Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides

Abstract

Gill parasites can negatively affect hosts by altering behavior or causing adverse effects to host physiology. Most unionid mussel larvae (glochidia) are obligate parasites requiring fish hosts, but much of the literature concerning how these parasites affect their hosts has been limited to only a few study species of salmonids and mussels. Here, we test the effects of natural glochidia infection levels on resting metabolic rate and hypoxia tolerance of bluegill Lepomis macrochirus and largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides using glochidia of the southern fatmucket mussel Lampsilis straminea, a warm-water unionid. We quantified oxygen uptake, hypoxia tolerance, and ability to regulate metabolic rate via respiration rate, critical dissolved oxygen values (DOcrit), and a regulation index (RI), respectively, to compare the effects of glochidia infection between infected and uninfected fish over 11 wk after host inoculation. Hosts were infected with glochidia at levels similar to those seen in wild, naturally occurring infections. At these levels, we observed no effects of glochidia infection on metabolic rate, DOcrit, or RI of infected versus control fish of either species over our 11-wk experiment. Glochidia infection on fish gills at levels expected under field conditions may not always induce an organismal-level (i.e., individual organism) response or cause host respiratory stress. Preventing respiratory stress from infection would be beneficial for both host and parasite, given that glochidia survival and dispersal depend on host survival.