Journal of Aqualic Animal Health 5:313-316, 1993 COMMUNICATIONS Prevalence of the Parasite Cystoopsis acipenseri (Nematoda) in Juvenile White Sturgeons in the

• Main Authors: Lower Columbia River, George T. Mccabe
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: schrencki (Saidov 1954). In North America; C. 1 Address correspondence to; National Marine Fish; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.521.1897; http://www.fishsciences.net/projects/columbia_sturgeon/_pdfs/52-Prevalence_parasite_Cystoopsis.pdf

Abstract. —Juvenile white sturgeons Acipenser trans-montanus in the lower Columbia River (downstream from the lowermost dam) of Oregon and Washington were examined for the nematode parasite Cystoopsis aci-penserifcom 1987 through 1991. Prevalence of the par-asite in juvenile white sturgeons varied annually, ranging from 1 % in 1989 to 14 % in 1987. Fork lengths of in-fected white sturgeons ranged from 240 to 452 mm. The white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus is the largest species of North American sturgeons. The white sturgeon, an anadromous species, is distributed from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to Monterey, California (Scott and Crossman 1973). In the Columbia River system, some white stur-geon populations have become effectively land-locked as a result of dam construction (Cochnauer et al. 1985; Beamesderfer et al. 1990). From 1987 through 1991, spawning character-istics, early life history, and habitat use of white sturgeons were studied in the lower Columbia River. Numerous juvenile white sturgeons were collected during the 5-year study and examined for the nematode parasite Cystoopsis acipenseri. The parasite is contained in blisterlike cysts lo-cated just under the skin of affected fish (Wagner