Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T02:45:46.735Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinants of the parasite community of clariid fishes from Lake Victoria, Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

Chacha Mwita  and
Gamba Nkwengulila
Chacha Mwita*
Affiliation:
Department of Fisheries Science and Aquaculture, Faculty of Aquatic Sciences and Technology, University of Dar Es Salaam, PO Box 35064, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Gamba Nkwengulila
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Wildlife Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Dar Es Salaam, PO Box 35064, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
*
*Fax: 255 22 2410480/2650244 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The factors that determine parasite assemblages among the clariid fishes of Lake Victoria, Tanzania were studied between August 2003 and February 2005. Six hundred and fifty-six fish belonging to seven species were necropsied and examined for parasites, from which 31 species of metazoan parasites were recorded. The community was dominated by the nematodes both in species and numbers. Most species were generalists with only two trematodes, Diplostomum mashonense and Tylodelphys species, being specialists of Clarias gariepinus. Ten species were considered core and predictable. Parasite species richness, number of individuals per host and Shannon–Wiener diversity indices were generally high. At the compound community level, a mean number of 7.8 parasites were shared among different species of fish and the maximum number of parasites species per fish at the infracommunity level was seven. Levels of similarity in parasite species richness at the component community level ranged from 29.6 to 61.5%. The study concludes that parasite communities in clariid fishes of Lake Victoria are structured by ecological factors. At the infracommunity level, host size, diet and vagility promoted a richer parasite community. At the compound level, two factors were crucial, namely the intermixing of the waters in the lake and the predominant and mobile C. gariepinus.

Type
Research Papers
Information
Journal of Helminthology , Volume 82 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 7 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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

Aho, J.M., Bush, A.O. & Wolfe, R.W. (1991) Helminth parasites of Bowfin (Amia calva) from South Carolina. Journal of the Helminthological Society of Washington 58 (2), 171–175.Google Scholar
Alves, D.R. & Luque, J.L. (2001) Community ecology of the metazoan parasites of White Croaker, Micropogonias furnieri (Osteichthyes: Sciaenidae), from the coastal zone of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Memorial Institute of Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 96 (2), 145–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alves, D.R., Luque, J.L. & Paraguassú, A.R. (2002) Community ecology of the metazoan parasites of Pink Cusk-eel, Genypterus brasiliensis (Osteichthyes: Ophidiidae), from the coastal zone of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Memorial Institute of Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 97 (5), 683–689.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bell, G. & Burt, A. (1991) The comparative biology of parasite species diversity: internal helminths of freshwater fish. Journal of Animal Ecology 60, 1047–1063.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, D.R. (1979) Testing the context and extent of host-parasite coevolution. Systematic Zoology 28, 299–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A., Aho, J.M. & Kennedy, C.R. (1990) Ecological versus phylogenetic determinants of helminth parasite community richness. Evolutionary Ecology 4, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A.O., Fernandez, J.C., Esch, G.W. & Seed, J.R. (2001) Parasitism: The diversity and ecology of animal parasites. 566 pp. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Choudhury, A. & Dick, T.A. (1998) Patterns and determinants of helminth communities in the Acipenseridae (Actinopterygii: Chondrostei), with special reference to the lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens. Canadian Journal of Zoology 76, 330–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desdevises, Y., Morad, S., Jousson, O. & Legendre, P. (2002) Coevolution between Lamellodiscus (Monogenea: Diplectanidae) and Sparidae (Teleostei): the study of a complex host-parasite system. Evolution 56 (12), 2459–2471.Google Scholar
Eccles, D.H. (1992) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Field guide to the freshwater fishes of Tanzania. 145 pp. UNDP Project URT/87/016, Rome, FAO.Google Scholar
Esch, G., Bush, A. & Aho, J. (1990) Parasite communities: Pattern and processes. 335 pp. London, Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Guégan, J.F. & Hugueny, B. (1994) A nested parasite species subset pattern in tropical fish: host as major determinant of parasite infracommunity structure. Oecologia 100, 184–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M.W., Nelson, P.A. & Dick, T.A. (2004) Structuring mechanisms of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) parasite communities: host age, diet, and local factors. Canadian Journal of Zoology 82, 1291–1301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katunzi, E.F.B., Van Densen, W.L.T., Wanink, J.H. & Witte, F. (2006) Spatial and seasonal patterns in the feeding habits of juvenile Lates niloticus (L.), in the Mwanza Gulf of Lake Victoria. Hydrobiologia 568 (1), 121–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1990) Helminth communities in freshwater fish: structured communities or stochastic assemblages? pp. 131–156in Esch, G., Bush, A. & Aho, J. (Eds) Parasite communities: Pattern and processes. London, Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C.R. (1995) Richness and diversity of macroparasite communities in tropical eels Anguilla reinhardtii in Queensland, Australia. Parasitology 111, 233–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khalil, L.F. & Polling, L. (1997) Checklist of the helminth parasites of African freshwater fishes. 185 pp. Pietersburg, University of the North.Google Scholar
Khalil, L.F. & Thurston, J.P. (1973) Studies on the helminth parasites of freshwater fishes of Uganda including the descriptions of two new species of digeneans. Revue Zoologica et Botanica Africa 87, 210–247.Google Scholar
Klimpel, S., Seehagen, A. & Palm, H.W. (2003) Metazoan parasites and feeding behaviour of four small-sized fish species from the central North Sea. Parasitological Research 91, 290–297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolding, J., van Zwieten, P., Manyala, J., Okedi, J., Mgaya, Y.D. & Orach-Meza, F. (2005) Regional synthesis report on fisheries research and management. Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project. 126 pp. Dares Salaam, Tanzania, LVEMP.Google Scholar
Luque, J.L., Alves, D.R. & Ribeiro, R.S. (2003) Community ecology of the metazoan parasites of Banded Croaker, Paralonchurus brasiliensis (Osteichthyes: Sciaenidae), from the coastal zone of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Acta Scientiarum, Biological Science, Maringá 25 (2), 273–278.Google Scholar
Machado, M.H., Pavanelli, G.C. & Takemoto, R.M. (1995) Influence of the type of environment and of the hydrological level variation in endoparasitic infrapopulations of Pseudoplatystoma corruscans (Agassiz) and Schizodon borelli (Boulenger) (Osteichthyes) of the high Parana River, Brazil. Revista Brasilian Zoologica 12 (4), 961–976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcogliese, D.J. & Cone, D.K. (1991) Importance of lake characteristics in structuring parasite communities of Salmonids from insular Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69, 2962–2967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margolis, L., Esch, G.W., Holmes, J.C., Kuris, A.M. & Schad, G.A. (1982) The use of ecological terms in parasitology (report of an ad hoc committee of the American Society of Parasitologists). Journal of Parasitology 68, 131–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mbahinzireki, G.B.A. (1984) Parasito-fauna of haplochromine species (Pisces: Cichlidae) from Mwanza gulf of Lake Victoria. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Dar-es-Salaam.Google Scholar
Mwita, C.J. (2002) Diversity and abundance of the parasite fauna of the catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) (Clariidae) from the Mwanza Gulf, Lake Victoria. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Dar-es-Salaam.Google Scholar
Nelson, P.A. & Dick, T.A. (2002) Factors shaping the parasite communities of trout-perch, Percopsis omiscomaycus Walbaum (Osteichthyses: Percopsidae), and the importance of scale. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80, 1986–1999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paperna, I. (1974) Hosts, distribution and pathology of infections with larvae of Eustrongylides (Dioctophymidae: Nematoda) in fishes from east African lakes. Journal of Fish Biology 6, 67–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paperna, I. (1980) Parasites, infections and diseases of fish in Africa. CIFA Technical Paper, 7. 216 pp. Rome, CIFA.Google Scholar
Poulin, R. (1992) Determinants of host-specificity in parasites of freshwater fishes. International Journal for Parasitology 22, 753–758.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poulin, R. (1995) Phylogeny, ecology and the richness of parasite communities in vertebrates. Ecological Monographs 65 (3), 283–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulin, R. (2003) The decay of similarity with geographical distance in parasite communities of vertebrate hosts. Journal of Biogeography 30, 1609–1615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salgado-Maldonado, G. & Kennedy, C.R. (1997) Richness and similarity of helminth communities in the tropical cichlid fish Cichlasoma urophthalmus from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Parasitology 114, 581–590.Google Scholar
Takemoto, R.M., Pavanelli, G.C., Lizama, M.A.P., Luque, J.L. & Poulin, R. (2005) Host population density as the major determinant of endoparasite species richness in floodplain fishes of the upper Parana River, Brazil. Journal of Helminthology 79, 75–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witte, F. & Van Densen, W.L.T. (1995) Fish stock and fisheries of Lake Victoria. A handbook for field observation. 404 pp. Cardigan, UK, Samara Publishing.Google Scholar
Wootten, R. (1973) The metazoan parasite-fauna of fish from Hanningfield Reservoir, Essex in relation to features of the habitat and host populations. Journal of Zoology, London 171, 323–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zander, C.D. (1998) Ecology of host-parasite relationships in the Baltic Sea. Naturwissenschaften 85, 426–436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zander, C.D., Reimer, L.W. & Barz, K. (1999) Parasite communities of the Salzhaff (Northwest Mecklenburg, Baltic Sea). I. Structure and dynamics of communities of littoral fish, especially small-sized fish. Parasitological Research 85, 356–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zander, C.D., Reimer, L.W., Barz, K., Dietel, G. & Strohbach, U. (2000) Parasite communities of the Salzhaff (Northwest Mecklenburg, Baltic Sea). II. Guild communities, with special regard to snails, benthic crustaceans, and small-sized fish. Parasitological Research 86, 359–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zar, J.H. (1996) Biostatistical analysis. 718 pp. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar