Metazoan parasites of salmonids and coregonids from coastal Labrador

• Main Author: Hicks, Franklin John
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1971
• Subjects: Salmo salar
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/7220/; https://research.library.mun.ca/7220/1/Hicks_FranklinJohn.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/7220/3/Hicks_FranklinJohn.pdf

323 fish of six species (salmonids and coregonids) from four locations on the eastern coast of Labrador were examined for metazoan parasites, using conventional parasitological techniques. -- Twenty-four genera of parasites were recovered (3 of Monogenea, 8 of Digenea, 5 of Cestoda, 5 of Nematoda, 1 of Acanthocephala, 2 of parasitic Copepoda). Twenty new host records were noted. Fourteen genera of parasites were noted in Salmo salar L., while Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill) contained 21 genera; S. namaycush (Walbaum), 12 genera; S. alpinus (L.), 16 genera; Coregonus clupeaformis (Mitchill), 11 genera; Prosopium cylindraceum (Pallas), II genera. It was found that the parasite burden of the various fish species examined was not homogeneous when sample areas and sex of the fish was considered. An increase in the number of parasite species per infected host with age was seen in the case of Salmo salar, Salvelinus fontinalis, S. namaycush, S. alpinus. In Coregonus clupeaformis and Prosopium cylindraceum, no such correlation was seen, this difference being related to the ecology of the fish. -- The parasitofauna of the various salmonid species examined was not homogeneous, significant differences being noted in the number of certain species infected with specific parasites. Significant differences were also noted in the parasite burden of the Salmonidae when compared with the Coregonidae. -- Food items recovered from the fish autopsied were noted.