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Host specificity of Argulus coregoni (Crustacea: Branchiura) increases at maturation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2007

V. N. MIKHEEV ,
A. F. PASTERNAK  and
E. T. VALTONEN
V. N. MIKHEEV*
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 33 Leninskii prospekt, 119071 Moscow, Russia
A. F. PASTERNAK
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 36 Nakhimovskii prospekt, 117997 Moscow, Russia
E. T. VALTONEN
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental and Biological Science, University of Jyväskylä, 40351 Jyväskylä, Finland
*
*Corresponding author: Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 33 Leninskii prospekt, 119071 Moscow, Russia. Tel: +7 495 4216378. Fax: +7 495 1245983. E-mail: avamik@online.ru
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Summary

We tested the hypothesis that host specificity in ectoparasites does not depend exclusively on the features of the host but also on surrounding habitats, using 2 fish ectoparasites, Argulus coregoni and A. foliaceus (Crustacea: Branchiura), occurring sympatrically in Finnish lakes. Although these parasites are considered to be of low specificity, we found that the larger of the 2 species, A. coregoni developed a pronounced preference for salmonid hosts at the beginning of maturation (defined by the presence of copulating specimens). Argulus foliaceus infects a much wider range of fish hosts. We showed that specialization of A. coregoni on salmonids does not necessarily result from incompatibility with other fishes, but could instead reflect higher sensitivity of oxygen depletion compared with A. foliaceus. Adult A. coregoni may meet these demands by attaching to salmonids, the typical inhabitants of well-aerated waters. Young parasites of both species showed little host specificity and attached mainly to fishes with higher body reflectivity. In host choice experiments, A. coregoni of 4–5 mm length preferred salmonids (rainbow trout) to cyprinids (roach) irrespective of the type of fish host, on which it had been previously grown in the laboratory. We suggest that such an innate ontogenetic shift in host preference maintains the major part of the parasite population on its principal host, ensuring successful reproduction within suitable habitats.

Keywords

fishparasitic crustaceanshost choiceinnate preferencehypoxia

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 134 , Issue 12 , November 2007 , pp. 1767 - 1774
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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