Fish parasites in the Arctic deep-sea: Poor diversity in pelagic fish species vs. heavy parasite load in a demersal fish.

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
• Main Authors: Klimpel, Sven, Palm, Harry Wilhelm, Busch, Markus W, Kellermanns, Esra, Rueckert, Sonja
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2006
• Subjects: Greenland and Irminger Sea; deep-sea fish; metazoan parasites; parasite diversity; food composition; 577.7 Marine ecology; QR Microbiology; Arctic; Argentina; Greenland; Irminger Sea; Antarc*; antarcticus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2006.05.009; http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6414

A total of 219 deep-sea fishes belonging to five families were examined for the parasite fauna and stomach contents. The demersal fish Macrourus berglax, bathypelagic Bathylagus euryops, and mesopelagic Argentina silus, Borostomias antarcticus, Chauliodus sloani, and Lampanyctus macdonaldi were caught at 243–708 m trawling depth in the Greenland and the Irminger Sea in 2002. A total of 21 different parasite species, six Digenea, one Monogenea, two Cestoda, seven Nematoda, one Acanthocephala, and four Crustacea, were found. The parasite diversity in the meso- and bathypelagic environment was less diverse in comparison to the benthal. Macrourus berglax had the highest diversity (20 species), usually carrying 4–10 different parasite species (mean 7.1), whereas Bathylagus euryops harbored up to three and Argentina silus, Borostomias antarcticus, Chauliodus sloani and Lampanyctus macdonaldi each up to two species. Most Digenea, Cestoda, Nematoda, Acanthocephala, and Crustacea are known from a wide host range. Several of the encountered parasites occurred at a very low prevalence (