ROBERT-F; GABRION-C (1991). Experimental approach to the specificity in first intermediate hosts of Bothriocephalids (Cestoda, Pseudophyllidea) from marine fish. ACTA OECOLOGICA 12(5): 617-632
180786
ROBERT-F; GABRION-C
1991
Experimental approach to the specificity in first intermediate hosts of Bothriocephalids (Cestoda, Pseudophyllidea) from marine fish.
ACTA OECOLOGICA 12(5): 617-632
Publication
NeMys doc_id: 3760
The population dynamics of Bothriocephalus gregarius and B. barbatus, 2 congeneric parasites of pleuronect fish (ROBERT et al., 1990), allowed us to investigate a possible one intermediate host cycle involving a copepod. Eight crustacean species (Oitona nana, Acartia clausi, A. discaudata, Eurythemora velox, Siriella armata, Paramysis belleri, Iphioe trispiosa) were experimentally infected by both parasites. The procercoid reached complete development in 3 copepods, Eurythemora velox, Acartia discaudata and A. clausi. The prevalence and intensity of infection revealed a differential receptivity in these species, with E. velox and A. discaudata being the most receptive. Parasite distributions within the copepod population indicated the presence of density-dependent constraints on parasite growth. Conversely, development of the procercoid was complete after 15 days at 12 degree C and seemed to be independent of density. The infection of young turbot with copepods infected 18 days earlier by B. gregarius confirmed the possibility of a single intermediate host cycle. Stenoxenous specificity was confirmed in the procercoid-copepode system. Phylogenetic specificity and biocenosis limits in pseudophyllidean cestodes are also discussed.
