XV.—The Life-history and Ecology of the Salmon Gill-Maggot Salmincola salmonea (Copepod Crustacean)

• Published in: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Main Author: Friend, G. F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1942
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0080456800008826; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0080456800008826

This study was begun in 1936 primarily as an attempt to work out the life-history of the Salmon gill-maggot Salmincola salmonea (L.), a common and widespread copepod parasite of the Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar ). At that time the adult female stage only was known, although this had been reported in Scotland as early as 1766 on a kelt salmon and had been included by Linnæus among his Vermes. It was not, however, until 1939, after three years of field work, that a complete series of the stages in the life-history of the parasite had been collected and the story began to take shape. During this time not only were parasites collected, but a quantity of statistical and observational data was accumulated bearing both on the parasite. and its host. Much of this referred to conditions in the estuary, a part of the common background of the two animals which was soon recognised to be a critical region for both. Consequently special attention was given to parasitised fish from this region, and this led to a widening of the scope of the investigation to include a consideration of the habitats and interrelations of gill-maggot and fish, indicated by the term “ecology” in the title.