Parasites of the Antarctic rattail Macrourus whitsoni (Regan, 1913) (Macrouridae, Gadiformes).

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Walter, Thorsten, Palm, Harry Wilhelm, Piepiorka, Sandra, Rueckert, Sonja
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: BMC 2002
• Subjects: Parasitism; fish; microbiology; wildlife; Atlantic Ocean; 597 Cold-blooded vertebrates; fishes; QR Microbiology; Antarctic; King George Island; South Shetland Islands; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Antarc*; Copepods
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-002-0407-6; http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6418

A total of 386 Macrourus whitsoni from Antarcticwaters were examined for ecto- and endoparasites.Sixty-five M. whitsoni collected near Halley Bay(Weddell Sea) and 321 specimens from the continentalslope off King George Island (South Shetland Islands)were studied for sphyriid copepods directly after beingcaught. A subsample of 25 specimens from the WeddellSea and of 9 specimens from King George Island werestudied for the presence of other metazoan parasites.Twenty-two species were found, including one myxozoan,six digeneans, one monogenean, three cestodes,seven nematodes, one acanthocephalan and three crustaceanspecies/taxa. While Auerbachia monstrosa andCapillaria sp. are reported for the first time from aroundthe Antarctic, the other parasites have been recordedearlier in the Southern Ocean. Many parasite speciesfound have a wide zoogeographical range and a lowhost-specificity. The parasite fauna of M. whitsoni revealedseveral similarities with its congeners M. carinatusand M. holotrachys from Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. This can be explained by a wide hostrange of many macrourid deep-sea parasites, togetherwith an overlap in distribution patterns of their hosts.Other supporting factors are host migration and a closephylogenetic relationship between the hosts, whichenable the parasites to infest all three macrourids. Eightnew host and 14 new locality records are established.