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<p>This is the first comprehensive study covering the parasite fauna of smelt, <italic>Osmerus eperlanus</italic>, from five estuary sites of the southern Baltic Sea in a stretch of almost 500 km. We examined 432 smelt from: the Neman River mouth, the Vistula River mouth, Pomeranian Bay, the Oder River, and Lake Dąbie and recovered 13 species/higher-rank taxa of parasites: <italic>Diplostomum</italic> spp., <italic>Posthodiplostomum cuticola</italic>, <italic>Eubothrium crassum</italic>, <italic>Proteocephalus longicolis</italic>, <italic>Cystidicola farionis</italic>, <italic>Hysterothylacium aduncum</italic>, <italic>Corynosoma semerme</italic>, <italic>Pomphorhynchus laevis</italic>, Unionidae gen sp., <italic>Ergasilus sieboldi</italic>, <italic>Argulus foliaceus</italic>, <italic>Piscicola geometra</italic>, and Saprolegniaceae gen sp. Basic infection parameters such as prevalence, intensity of infection, mean intensity of infection, and the dominance index were determined. The findings of the presently reported study constitute a number of new faunistic records. There were two new host records (<italic>Posthodiplostomum cuticola</italic> and Saprolegniaceae gen sp.), five new host records for Poland (<italic>Diplostomum</italic> spp., <italic>Pomphorhynchus laevis</italic>, <italic>Piscicola geometra</italic>, <italic>Argulus foliaceus</italic>, and Unionidae gen sp.), and two new host records for Lithuania (<italic>Argulus foliaceus</italic> and Unionidae gen sp.). We carefully analyzed the relevant information from more than 100 publications on smelt parasites to compare the data with our own findings.</p>
</abstract>

This is the first comprehensive study covering the parasite fauna of smelt, Osmerus eperlanus, from five estuary sites of the southern Baltic Sea in a stretch of almost 500 km. We examined 432 smelt from: the Neman River mouth, the Vistula River mouth, Pomeranian Bay, the Oder River, and Lake Dąbie and recovered 13 species/higher-rank taxa of parasites: Diplostomum spp., Posthodiplostomum cuticola, Eubothrium crassum, Proteocephalus longicolis, Cystidicola farionis, Hysterothylacium aduncum, Corynosoma semerme, Pomphorhynchus laevis, Unionidae gen sp., Ergasilus sieboldi, Argulus foliaceus, Piscicola geometra, and Saprolegniaceae gen sp. Basic infection parameters such as prevalence, intensity of infection, mean intensity of infection, and the dominance index were determined. The findings of the presently reported study constitute a number of new faunistic records. There were two new host records (Posthodiplostomum cuticola and Saprolegniaceae gen sp.), five new host records for Poland (Diplostomum spp., Pomphorhynchus laevis, Piscicola geometra, Argulus foliaceus, and Unionidae gen sp.), and two new host records for Lithuania (Argulus foliaceus and Unionidae gen sp.). We carefully analyzed the relevant information from more than 100 publications on smelt parasites to compare the data with our own findings.

Parasitological survey of smelt, <italic>Osmerus eperlanus</italic> (Actinopterygii: Osmeridae), from five estuary sites along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea

Division of General Zoology, Faculty of Biology

Palaeoceanology Unit, Faculty of Geosciences

Laboratory of Ecology and Physiology of Hydrobionts

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Parasitological survey of smelt,  (Actinopterygii: Osmeridae), from five estuary sites along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea

This is the first comprehensive study covering the parasite fauna of smelt, Osmerus eperlanus, from five estuary sites of the southern Baltic Sea in a stretch...

Parasitological survey of smelt, Osmerus eperlanus (Actinopterygii: Osmeridae), from five estuary sites along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea

Article Category: Original research paper

Online veröffentlicht: 27. Sept. 2017

Seitenbereich: 314 - 324

Eingereicht: 22. Nov. 2016

Akzeptiert: 10. Apr. 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2017-0033

© 2017 Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Poland. All rights reserved

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.