Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T04:50:01.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The occurrence of Sphaerostoma bramae (Digenea: Allocreadiidae) in the roach from the Worcester-Birmingham canal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

N. A. Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, The University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT, England

Abstract

Two hundred roach (Rutilus rutilus) were examined over a twelve-month period to provide information concerning the occurrence of Sphaerostoma bramae. Infection levels were high during the autumn and winter and at this time of year the parasite population was composed almost exclusively of immature parasites. Maturation was rapid in the spring but was accompanied by a decrease in the infection level. In late summer, after egg-laying, losses due to the death of spent parasites began to be replaced by the recruitment of immature parasites and this recruitment reached its peak in the autumn and winter. The annual cycle of occurrence and maturation is discussed in relation to fluctuating environmental variables and the feeding behaviour of the roach.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. M. (1974) Population dynamics of the cestode Caryophyllaeus laticeps (Pallas, 1781) in the bream Abramis brama L. Journal of Animal Ecology, 43, 305322.Google Scholar
Crofton, H. D. (1971) A quantitative approach to parasitism. Parasitology, 62, 179183.Google Scholar
Evans, N.A. (1977) The occurrence and life history of Asymphylodora kubanicum (Digenea: Monorchidae) in the Worcester-Birmingham canal, with special reference to the feeding habits of the definitive host, Rutilus rutilus. Journal of Zoology (in Press).Google Scholar
Gerking, S. D. (1953) Evidence for the concepts of home range and territory in stream fishes. Ecology, 34, 347365.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1972) Parasite communities in freshwater ecosystems. In Essays in Hydrobiology. (Eds Clarke, R. B. and Wootton, R. J..) University of Exeter Press: Exeter.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1972) Ecological Animal Parasitology. Blackwell Scientific Publications: Oxford.Google Scholar
Pennycuick, L. (1971) Frequency distributions of parasites in a population of three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. with particular reference to the negative binomial. Parasitology, 63, 389406.Google Scholar
Pike, A. W. (1967). Some stylet cercariae and a microphallid type in British freshwater molluses. Parasitology, 57, 729754.Google Scholar
Pike, A. W. (1968) Distribution and incidence of larval trematodes in the freshwater fauna of the Wentloog level, South Wales. Journal of Zoology, 155, 293309.Google Scholar
Sinitsin, D. F. (1905) Contributions to the natural history of trematodes. Distomes of fishes and frogs in the environs of Warsaw. 210 pp. (In Russian).Google Scholar
Stott, B. (1967) The movements and population densities of roach Rutilus rutilus (L) and gudgeon Gobio gobio (L) in the River Mole. Journal of Animal Ecology, 36, 407423.Google Scholar
Szidat, L. (1944) Weitere Untersuchungen über die Trematoden, Fauna einheimischer Süsswasserfische. II Mitteilung die Gattung Sphaerostomum (Stiles et Hass., 1898) Looss, 1899 und verwandte. Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde, 13, 183214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar