Klimpel, Sven, Palm, Harry Wilhelm, Busch, Markus Wilhelm, Kellermanns, Esra and Rückert, Sonja (2006) Fish parasites in the Arctic deep-sea: Poor diversity in pelagic fish species vs. heavy parasite load in a demersal fish. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 53 (7). pp. 1167-1181. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.05.009.

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Abstract

A total of 219 deep-sea fishes belonging to five families were examined for the parasite fauna and stomach contents. The demersal fish Macrourus berglax, bathypelagic Bathylagus euryops, and mesopelagic Argentina silus, Borostomias antarcticus, Chauliodus sloani, and Lampanyctus macdonaldi were caught at 243–708 m trawling depth in the Greenland and the Irminger Sea in 2002. A total of 21 different parasite species, six Digenea, one Monogenea, two Cestoda, seven Nematoda, one Acanthocephala, and four Crustacea, were found. The parasite diversity in the meso- and bathypelagic environment was less diverse in comparison to the benthal. Macrourus berglax had the highest diversity (20 species), usually carrying 4–10 different parasite species (mean 7.1), whereas Bathylagus euryops harbored up to three and Argentina silus, Borostomias antarcticus, Chauliodus sloani and Lampanyctus macdonaldi each up to two species. Most Digenea, Cestoda, Nematoda, Acanthocephala, and Crustacea are known from a wide host range. Several of the encountered parasites occurred at a very low prevalence (<10%), indicating that the studied deep-sea fishes are most probably not instrumental to complete the parasite life cycles in the area of investigation. It is suggested that the lack of nutrients in the meso- and bathypelagial limits the abundance of potential first intermediate hosts of nematodes and cestodes, resulting in low infestation rates even of widely distributed, non-specific species. In contrast, the higher biomass in the benthic deep-sea environment increases the availability of potential intermediate hosts, such as molluscs for the digeneans, resulting in increased parasite diversity. Because many deep-sea fish have a generalistic feeding behavior, the observed different parasite diversity reflects a different depth range of the fish and not necessarily a specific fish feeding ecology.

Document Type:	Article
Programme Area:	UNSPECIFIED
Research affiliation:	Ecology > Fisheries Biology
Refereed:	Yes
Open Access Journal?:	No
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.05.009
ISSN:	09670637
Date Deposited:	28 Feb 2020 14:07
Last Modified:	26 Mar 2024 13:30
URI:	http://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/3486

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