Parasitic Crustacea Research Articles

Pathogens and other symbionts of the Amphipoda: taxonomic diversity and pathological significance.

With over 10000 species of Amphipoda currently described, this order is one of the most diverse groups of freshwater and marine Crustacea. Members of this group are globally distributed, and many are keystone species and ecosystem engineers within their respective ecologies. As with most organisms, disease is a key factor that can alter population size, behaviour, survival, invasion potential and physiology of amphipod hosts. This review explores symbiont diversity and pathology in amphipods by coalescing a range of current and historical literature to provide the first full review of our understanding of amphipod disease. The review is broken into 2 parts. The first half explores amphipod microparasites, which include data pertaining to viruses, bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, microsporidians, dinoflagellates, myxozoans, ascetosporeans, mesomycetozoeans, apicomplexans and ciliophorans. The second half reports the metazoan macroparasites of Amphipoda, including rotifers, trematodes, acanthocephalans, nematodes, cestodes and parasitic Crustacea. In all cases we have endeavoured to provide a complete list of known species that cause disease in amphipods, while also exploring the effects of parasitism. Although our understanding of disease in amphipods requires greater research efforts to better define taxonomic diversity and host effects of amphipod symbionts, research to date has made huge progress in cataloguing and experimentally determining the effects of disease upon amphipods. For the future, we suggest a greater focus on developing model systems that use readily available amphipods and diseases, which can be comparable to the diseases in other Crustacea that are endangered, economically important or difficult to house.

STUDIES ON THE REPRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ASTERINA BURTONI GRAY AND A. WEGA PERRIER (ASTEROIDEA) IN THE RED SEA AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

ABSTRACT An Indo-Pacific sea star considered to be Asterina burtoni Gray 1840, has penetrated into the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. This sea star is found in the Red Sea in two morphological forms, the pluriradiate and pentaradiate, the former of which reached the Mediterranean. Size differences in the two forms found in Elat Bay were studied. The histological structure of the gonads was examined as well, and the assumption made that a parasitic ascothoracic Crustacea causes the degeneration of the gonads in pentaradiate specimens. The distribution of the two forms is considered. It is concluded that the two forms are two separate species: Asterina burtoni Gray 1840, being the pentaradiate form and Asterina wega Perrier 1869, the pluriradiate form.

Description of the free-swimming juvenile stages of Lernaeocera branchialis (Pennellidae), using traditional light and confocal microscopy methods

AB Aquatic Biology Contact the journal Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AB 14:153-163 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00388 Description of the free-swimming juvenile stages of Lernaeocera branchialis (Pennellidae), using traditional light and confocal microscopy methods A. J. Brooker*, J. E. Bron, A. P. Shinn Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK *Email: ajb3@stir.ac.uk ABSTRACT: The last detailed morphological descriptions of the juvenile stages of the parasitic copepod Lernaeocera branchialis (L., 1767) were written more than 70 yr ago, since which time both taxonomic nomenclature and available imaging technologies have changed substantially. In this paper a re-description of the free-swimming juvenile stages of L. branchialis is presented using a combination of traditional light microscopy and modern laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) techniques. Detailed descriptions are provided of the nauplius I, nauplius II and copepodid stages and comparisons are made with the findings for other siphonostomatoids. Nauplius II is previously undescribed and several structures are described at the terminal tip which have not been found in other pennellids. With renewed interest in L. branchialis as a result of expanding gadoid aquaculture in North Atlantic countries, this re-description provides important information on its life history that may be useful for further research into this potentially devastating pathogen. KEY WORDS: Parasitic Crustacea · Confocal · Morphology Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Brooker AJ, Bron JE, Shinn AP (2012) Description of the free-swimming juvenile stages of Lernaeocera branchialis (Pennellidae), using traditional light and confocal microscopy methods. Aquat Biol 14:153-163. https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00388 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AB Vol. 14, No. 2. Online publication date: January 04, 2012 Print ISSN: 1864-7782; Online ISSN: 1864-7790 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.

Branchiura (Crustacea) - Survey of Historical Literature and Taxonomy

The Branchiura (carp lice) is a small group of parasitic Crustacea found mainly on freshwater fish comprising the four genera Argulus, Dolops, Chonopeltis and Dipteropeltis. The earliest descriptions of “carp lice” dates back to 10th century China, and several descriptions were made in the beginning of the “modern age” of Zoology beginning in the 18th century. However, the last genus to be described was Dipteropeltis as late as in 1912. While a few species like Argulus foliaceus, A. japonicus and Dolops ranarum are fairly well-known, most Branchiura species remain more or less uninvestigated. As the literature is far spread and often hard to access, this survey aims to give an overview of the most important available historical literature on morphology, and systematics / nomenclature in a chronological order for each of the four genera, to the hopeful benefit of Branchiura researchers.

Introduction to the first symposium on the biology of the parasitic Crustacea

The parasitic Crustacea represent a diverse group with members in several classes and orders, including the Cirripedia, Isopoda, Amphipoda, Branchiura, Copepoda, Tantulocarida, and Pentastomida. Their biology is as diverse as their morphological and phylogenetic disparity would indicate, and includes egg mimicry, parasitic castration, host feminization, epigametic sex determination, venomous secretions, and bizarre adaptations of the life cycle. However, convergent adaptations to the parasitic lifestyle are common and must be considered when studying the evolution of the organisms, their behaviors, and morphological modifications. Recently, there have been several important papers on the evolution of parasitic crustaceans, but most of these have covered narrow groups, such as the Rhizocephala (e.g. Hoeg 1995, Schram & Hoeg 1995, Hoeg and Lutzen 1996) and the parasitic copepods (e.g. Huys and Boxshall 1991, Ho 2001, Boxshall 2004). Additional papers have highlighted interesting biological attributes of specific parasitic groups, such as polyandry in sea lice (Todd et al. 2005), host preferences, and ecological effects in nicothoid copepods (e.g. Shields et al. 2006 for a review of those on lobsters), and even the effects of climatic warming on species of Argulus (Hakalahti et al. 2006). Such papers have provided new data and new ways of looking at these organisms that give insights into questions about their broader biology. Given the continued interest in the adaptations of parasitic crustaceans, as well as in the effect of these organisms on important aquaculture and fishery species, we organized a symposium at the Society for Comparative and Integrative Biology (SICB) meeting in Boston for 2009, to provide a reference point for broader discussions on the topic. The symposium was structured with topics in evolution, life history, molecular biology, and pathology. As far as we know, there have been no other symposia devoted entirely to the parasitic Crustacea; thus, the First Symposium on the Biology of the Parasitic Crustacea was held at the SICB Annual Meeting, in Boston, January 4–5, 2009. However, it is important to note that there have been several specialized symposia on diseases of Crustacea (Symposium on Diseases of Commercially Significant Crustaceans, International Crustacean Conference VI, Glasgow, 2005; The Biology of the Rhizocephala, The Crustacean Society Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, 2003; Diseases of Crustacea, National Shellfisheries Association Annual Meeting, Mystic, 2002; as well as several on viral infections in shrimp) and a few symposia on specific taxonomic groups such as the parasitic copepods of fishes (e.g. Symposium on the Parasites of Fishes and Other Aquatic Organisms, IX European Multi-colloquium of Parasitology, Valencia, 2004; V International Symposium on Fish Parasites, Ceske Budějovice, 1999; Sea lice and Other Parasitic Copepoda, 1st European Crustacean Conference, Paris, 1992). Hence, our attempt to encompass a broader view of parasitism across the Crustacea was timely and provided an opportunity for experts in diverse taxa to compare and contrast questions broadly between systems. The program for the symposium was organized around different taxonomic groups. There were 11 primary papers in the symposium and five in a complementary session. Several of the papers were reviews of the existing literature. The papers given were:

Crustacean classification: on-going controversies and unresolved problems*

The journey from Linnaeus’s original treatment to modern crustacean systematics is briefly characterised. Progress in our understanding of phylogenetic relationships within the Crustacea is linked to continuing discoveries of new taxa, to advances in theory and to improvements in methodology. Six themes are discussed that serve to illustrate some of the major on-going controversies and unresolved problems in the field as well as to illustrate changes that have taken place since the time of Linnaeus. These themes are: 1. the treatment of parasitic Crustacea, 2. the affinities of the Remipedia, 3. the validity of the Entomostraca, 4. exopodites and epipodites, 5. using larval characters in estimating phylogenetic relationships, and 6. fossils and the crustacean stem-lineage. It is concluded that the development of the stem lineage concept for the Crustacea has been dominated by consideration of taxa known only from larval or immature stages. This has limited our understanding of key events in the origin of crown group Crustacea.

Vasa‐related genes and their expression in stem cells of colonial parasitic rhizocephalan barnacle Polyascus polygenea (Arthropoda: Crustacea: Cirripedia: Rhizocephala)

vasa (vas)-related genes are members of the DEAD-box protein family and are expressed in the germ cells of many Metazoa. We cloned vasa-related genes (PpVLG, CpVLG) and other DEAD-box family related genes (PpDRH1, PpDRH2, CpDRH, AtDRHr) from the colonial parasitic rhizocephalan barnacle Polyascus polygenea, the non-colonial Clistosaccus paguri (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Rhizocephala), and the parasitic isopodan Athelgis takanoshimensis (Crustacea: Isopoda). The colonial Polyascus polygenea, a parasite of the coastal crabs Hemigrapsus sanguineus and Hemigrapsus longitarsis was used as a model object for further detailed investigations. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that PpVLG and CpVLG are closely related to vasa-like genes of other Arthropoda. The rest of the studied genes form their own separate branch on the phylogenetic tree and have a common ancestry with the p68 and PL10 subfamilies. We suppose this group may be a new subfamily of the DEAD-box RNA helicases that is specific for parasitic Crustacea. We found PpVLG and PpDRH1 expression products in stem cells from stolons and buds of internae, during asexual reproduction of colonial P. polygenea, and in germ cells from sexually reproducing externae, including male spermatogenic cells and female oogenic cells.

Richness patterns in the parasite communities of exotic poeciliid fishes.

Three species of poeciliids (Gambusia holbrooki, Xiphophorus helleri and X. maculatus) and 15 species of ecologically similar native freshwater fishes (mainly eleotrids, ambassids, melanotaeniids and retropinnids) were examined for parasite richness to investigate parasite flux, qualitative differences, quantitative differences and the structuring factors in parasite communities in the 2 fish types in Queensland, Australia. Theory suggests that poeciliids would harbour depauperate parasite communities. Results supported this hypothesis; poeciliids harboured more species-poor parasite infracommunities and regional faunas than natives (P < 0.0001), despite greater sampling effort for the former. Cluster analysis of presence/absence data for poeciliids and the 6 most-sampled native fishes revealed that parasite communities of the 2 fish groups are qualitatively distinct; the proportion of parasite species with complex life-cycles was lower in poeciliids than in native species, and Myxosporea, Microspora, Coccidia and parasitic Crustacea were all absent from poeciliids. Limited exchange of parasite species has occurred between natives and poeciliids. Logistic ordinal regression analysis revealed that fish origin (exotic or native), environmental disturbance and host sex were all significant determinants of parasite community richness (P < 0.05). Theoretical modelling suggests that poeciliids are at a competitive advantage over native fishes because of their lack of parasites.

Long-term changes in parasites of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) smolts

Parasites were examined in 41 annual samples of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) juveniles originating from lakes in British Columbia: Chilko and Shuswap. Nine species of parasitic helminths and two species of parasitic Crustacea were recovered from various organs. The number of species ranged from three to nine per year. Most (94%) parasites belonged to three tapeworm species, identified as core to the parasite community because they also infected the most hosts. Two of these cestode species are probably maintained by resident freshwater hosts in the lakes. Positive numerical associations were observed between four parasite species pairs. Parasite communities in both lakes were composed of similar species, with the exception of three rare Chilko Lake species that were never recovered from Shuswap Lake. Parasites were often as variable within stock (temporally) as between stocks (geographically), except for the prevalence of Eubothrium sp. and Neoechinorhynchus sp. and mean annual intensity of Proteocephalus sp. and encysted digenetic metacercariae, which were greater at Chilko Lake than at Shuswap Lake. Discrimination between the two lakes based on their parasite community is possible only in extreme cases of infection and thus is of limited use to fisheries officers attempting to distinguish between these stocks.

Evaluation of Gill Nets, Fyke Nets, and Mark-Recapture Methods to Estimate the Number of Hirudinea and Crustacea on Fish

Twenty species of fishes (n = 20,759) were collected from Dauphin Lake, Manitoba, Canada, to determine the types and numbers of ectoparasites they harbored. Counts of ectoparasites on fishes collected with different gear were compared to evaluate different methods of collection and to estimate rates of recruitment of ectoparasites by fishes. Ectoparasites were found on 11 species of fishes and the majority of these were parasitic leeches (Myzobdella moorei, Cystobranchus verilli, and Placobdella montifera) and parasitic Crustacea (Argulus appendiculosus and Lernaea cyprinacea). Some fishes also were infested by neascus-type metacercariae (blackspot) or had tumors (lymphocystis). The prevalence of ectoparasites was correlated with the abundance, feeding habits, and spatial distribution of fish species. Argulus appendiculosus and blackspot were more prevalent on benthic fishes, whereas M. moorei and tumors were more prevalent on limnetic fishes. Mark-recapture records showed that fishes occupying shallow (less than or equal to 1.5 m) water had a higher prevalence of infestation and 28 of 29 infected fishes caught by gill nets were captured in shallow water. Placobdella montifera was the only ectoparasite found on fishes from deep (1.5-3.5 m) water and the only species that was acquired by fishes previously released with no ectoparasite (2 of 239 fishes). The littoral zone (less than or equal to 1.5 m) comprises only 14% of the surface area and 3% of the volume of Dauphin Lake, yet 72% of all gill-netted fishes harboring ectoparasites were collected there. Intensities of ectoparasites estimated from gill net and pound net samples were similar, but prevalence of ectoparasites estimated from samples obtained with gill nets was lower.

A Note On the Occurrence of Parasitic Crustacea On Certain Epibenthic Hermit Crabs and Prawns (Decapoda Anomura Et Caridea) From the Clyde Sea, Scotland

A Note On the Occurrence of Parasitic Crustacea On Certain Epibenthic Hermit Crabs and Prawns (Decapoda Anomura Et Caridea) From the Clyde Sea, Scotland

Parasitic Adaptation in the Parasitic Crustacea

Parasitic Adaptation in the Parasitic Crustacea

The parasitic Crustacea of African freshwater fishes; their biology and distribution

The known distribution of the parasitic crustaceans of African freshwater fishes, which now include some 80 more or less adequately described taxa, is summarized, and the significance of some of the patterns which they exhibit is discussed. Information is given on the taxonomy biology and evolution of certain species.

THE PARASITIC COPEPODA AND BRANCHIURA OF THE FISHES OF LAKE VICTORIA AND THE VICTORIA NILE

An account is given of the parasitic Crustacea of the fishes of Lake Victoria and the Victoria Nile. Seven species of Copepoda, of which three are new, and three species of Branchiura, of which one is new, are described. Biological data are given and the fauna is discussed from a zoogeographical standpoint.

Myocheres inflata a New Species of Parasitic Copepod from the Bahamas

Island, during a visit to the Lerner Marine Laboratory of the American Mu.seum of Natural History, Bimini, Bahamas. Both species of lamellibranch were found in clean coral sand at a depth of approximately four feet of water. The parasite was not recorded by C. B. Wilson (1935) or Pearse (1951) in their works dealing with the parasitic crustacea from this region. The presence of a slender 6-segmented first antenna, the second segment of which is elongate, and a markedly prehensile second antenna, together with the characteristic form of the maxillae and the first four pairs of legs, would appear to place the parasite as a member of the family LICHOMOLGIDAE (Suborder CYCLOPOIDA). But, descriptions of related species by Yamaguti (1936), Pearse (1947) and M. S. Wilson (1950) make it necessary to reconsider whether a new family should be created. The absence of maxillipeds in the female and the presence of a stout pair in the male, together with the characteristic triangular spines on the outer margins of both rami of the first pair of legs and the structure of the fifth pair of legs would appear to place it in the genus Myicola (see p. 62) first described by Wright (1885) and later by Wilson (1932). Myocheres inflata, new species Female. The animal is greyish white in color, the overall length (to the tip of the caudal setae) of the specimens collected varied from 1.8-3.7 mm. The head is heart-shaped and is fused with the first segment. Segments two, three and fou.r are as wide as or slightly wider than the head and are very inflated (see Figs. 1 and 5). The fifth segment is less than half the length and two-thirds the width of the preceding segments yet, like them, is very inflated. This inflation is due to the exceedingly large uteri of the female. The urosome is composed of four segments and tapers to the caudal rami. The first segment is long and exceeds the combined lengths of segments two and three and it carries the remarkably long curved egg sacs. The latter are attached to the anterior end of the segment in a dorso-lateral position. The fourth segment is also long but does not exceed the combined lengths of segments two and three. The caudal rami are the same length as the last segment of the urosome and each bears a caudal seta that is twice as long as the ramus. In addition there are three other caudal setae present which are arranged in the positions shown in Figures 1 and 5. The first antennae are six segmented, the second segment being the longest. The setation is as shown in Figure 8. The second antenna (Fig. 7) is prehensile

Parasites of Northern Pike and Pickerel

The parasitic fauna of the northern pike and two species of pickerel (Esocidae) from a Connecticut lake has been investigated. Two species of trematodes, two of tapeworms, one each of roundworms, spiny-headed worms, protozoa and parasitic crustacea are reported. The infestation of the Connecticut Lake Esocidae is compared with that of the same species from other localities.

A review of the parasitic Crustacea of the genus Argulus in the collections of the United States National Museum

A review of the parasitic Crustacea of the genus Argulus in the collections of the United States National Museum

Three new genera and five new species of parasitic Crustacea

Three new genera and five new species of parasitic Crustacea

Two common species of parasitic Crustacea (Sacculinidae) of the West Indies

Two common species of parasitic Crustacea (Sacculinidae) of the West Indies

A Troublesome Parasite of a Brittle-Starfish

IN a valuable work on certain parasitic Crustacea (“Contributions a l'Etude des Bopyriens,” p. 181), Prof. A. Giard and J. Bonnier have done me the honour of calling attention to my discovery of a Copepod (?) which lives in the body of an Ophiuran, Amphiura squamata. They regard the mutual relationship of the Copepod and the Ophiuran as an instance of the castration of the host by the parasite. Although all my observations indicate the correctness of some such an interpretation, I failed to recognize it as a fact until after they had pointed it out. The explanation seems a possible one, and is provisionally accepted, with a few modifications, as the best as far as research has gone. The modifications are important.