Influence of introduced vs. native parasites on the body condition of migrant silver eels

• Published in: Parasite
• Main Authors: Gerard, Claudia, Trancart, Thomas, Amilhat, Elsa, Faliex, Elisabeth, Virag, Laure, Feunteun, Eric, Acou, Anthony
• Other Authors: Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution Rennes (ECOBIO), Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA), Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), Ecosystèmes estuariens et poissons migrateurs amphihalins (UR EPBX), Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), Centre de formation et de recherche sur l'environnement marin (CEFREM), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), European Project: 212133,EC:FP7:ENV,FP7-ENV-2007-1,EELIAD(2008)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: Anguilla anguilla; Silver eels; Metazoan parasite communities; Introduced parasites; Body condition; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]
• Online Access: https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00932207; https://doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2013040

International audience Because parasitism is among the reasons invoked to explain the collapse of Anguilla anguilla, we evaluated the parasitic constraint on body condition (BC) of migrant silver eels as a proxy of fitness with inter-site comparisons. Metazoan parasites were studied in 149 silver eels from five sites (northern Europe). In total, 89% were infected by 13 species including Myxozoa, Monogenea, Cestoda, Nematoda, and Acanthocephala. Anguillicoloides crassus was most common (56%), then Acanthocephalus clavula (30%), and Pseudodactylogyrus sp. (17%). BC, calculated for 58 females, was negatively correlated by abundance of the introduced Pseudodactylogyrus sp. but not by other parasite taxa. Nevertheless, the introduced A. crassus was considered as a severe pathogen based on previous data, whereas the native A. clavula was supposed to have limited impact. Parasite component communities and BC were different between sites. Silver eels from Stockholm Archipelago (Sweden) were the least parasitized (40% vs. 90-95% for other sites) with no parasites on the gills. Burrishoole (Ireland) differed by the absence of A. crassus and high prevalence of A. clavula (84%) but without consequences on BC. Gudenaa (Denmark), Corrib (Ireland), and Fremur (France) were close due to high prevalence of A. crassus (89-93%). Gudenaa and Corrib were the most similar because Pseudodactylogyrus sp. was also highly prevalent (respectively 71% and 60%) whereas absent in Fremur. Our results suggest that the fitness loss induced by the introduced parasites could affect the spawning success of migrant silver eels from Gudenaa and Corrib, and to a lesser extent from Fremur, but probably not those from Stockholm Archipelago and Burrishoole.