Infections with parasitic copepods in North Sea marine fishes
In: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press/Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: Cambridge. ISSN 0025-3154; e-ISSN 1469-7769, more
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Keywords |
Aquatic organisms > Marine organisms > Fish > Marine fish Parasites Cresseyus confusus (Stock, 1953) [WoRMS]; Copepoda [WoRMS]; Clavella adunca (Strøm, 1762) [WoRMS] Marine/Coastal |
Abstract |
A range of 62 species of marine fishes representing 34 families was examined for the presence of parasitic copepods. Forty-one species were found to harbour 39 species of copepod belonging to 9 families. The remaining 21 species of fishes were not infected. The incidence and intensity of infection were recorded and these provided material data on the host-parasite relationships. The site of infection and the developmental stage of the parasite were also recorded. The frequency distributions of number of copepods per host were calculated for Clavella adunca and Bomolochus confusus. The age of the host was shown to influence the frequency distribution of Bomolochus confusus. The host specificity of the copepod species was analysed and 70 % of the species were found to be specific for one host species or for different species of the same genus. |
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