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The establishment and population biology of the eye-fluke Tylodelphys podicipina (Digenea: Diplostomatidae) in perch

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

C. R. Kennedy
C. R. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter
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Summary

The introduction, establishment and subsequent history of a population of the eye-fluke Tylodelphys podicipina in perch in a small lake was studied over a period of 2 years. The introduction was a natural, chance colonization, and within 2 years of its first appearance the parasite was infecting 100% of the 0 + perch. Its dispersion within the perch population was initially random and fitted a Poisson model, but subsequently it became over-dispersed. Infection of fish took place only in or about June and only young of the year fish were susceptible. Fish were infected on one occasion only, shortly after birth, and there was no subsequent re-infection or mortality within the eye. The parasites lived for at least 2 years and there was no evidence of parasite-induced host mortality. Infection levels are thus an indication of the recruitment level in the year in which the fish were born. T. podicipina therefore differs from all other species of eye-flukes, which accumulate in fish throughout their life, but this infection strategy facilitates transmission of the parasites to their definitive host. Lower infection levels in older fish here and in other localities are considered to be due to the parasite being a recent introduction to the British fauna, and to its still being in the expansion phase of colonization in all localities.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , April 1981 , pp. 245 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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