Diet and metazoan parasites of silver scabbard fish Lepidopus caudatus from the Great Meteor Seamount (North Atlantic).

Silver scabbard fish Lepidopus caudatus (Euphrasen, 1788) (Trichiuridae) from the Great Meteor Seamount (GMS) in the central eastern Atlantic were studied for diet composition and metazoan parasites. A total of 36 specimens with lengths between 39.1 and 52.2 cm were sampled, which had taken 14 diffe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Ecology Progress Series
Main Authors: Klimpel, Sven, Rueckert, Sonja, Piatkowski, Uwe, Palm, Harry Wilhelm, Hanel, Reinhold
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Inter Research 2006
Subjects:
Lepidopus caudatus
metazoan parasites
diet composition
ยท biotic relationships
diversity
zoogeography
Seamount
597 Cold-blooded vertebrates
fishes
QR Microbiology
Meteor Seamount
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps315249
http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6415
Description
Summary:Silver scabbard fish Lepidopus caudatus (Euphrasen, 1788) (Trichiuridae) from the Great Meteor Seamount (GMS) in the central eastern Atlantic were studied for diet composition and metazoan parasites. A total of 36 specimens with lengths between 39.1 and 52.2 cm were sampled, which had taken 14 different prey items belonging to 4 major taxonomic groups (Chaetognatha, Crustacea, Mollusca and Teleostei). The most abundant prey organisms were Myctophidae and Euphausiacea, followed by Copepoda (Calanoida), Decapoda, Chaetognatha and Cephalopoda. Fishes were also the dominant prey in terms of biomass. Cannibalism was observed in 7 specimens of subadult L. caudatus. A total of 11 parasite species were identified in/on L. caudatus. We established 9 new host and 8 new locality records. Infestation rates were congruent with diet composition, indicating that parasites were ingested via mesopelagic prey organisms serving as intermediate hosts. The rich parasite fauna in L. caudatus reflects a high diversity of mesopelagic species at the GMS, providing niches for parasites and their intermediate hosts. While several species such as Paradiplectanotrema lepidopi (Monogenea) and Nybelinia lingualis (Cestoda) are typical parasites of L. caudatus, other species such as Sphyriocephalus tergestinus (Cestoda), Anisakis simplex (Nematoda) and Bolbosoma vasculosum (Acanthocephala) seem to be transferred by hosts migrating into the area, indicating an important role of the GMS in the transoceanic distribution patterns of such parasites.

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