Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T19:58:00.051Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The effect of the cestode Caryophyllaeus laticeps upon production and respiration of its intermediate host

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

C. R. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, The University, Exeter

Extract

A quantitative assessment of the effect of larval Caryophyllaeus laticeps upon its intermediate host, Psammoryctes barbatus, was obtained by comparing the energy budgets of infected and uninfected tubificids from the same natural populationm throughout the course of a year. Measurements of the energy transformations during growth, reproduction and respiration of tubificids indicated some of the effects of the parasite.

Infection had no influence upon the life-span of the host, but progressively decreased its growth and prevented reproduction. By contrast no significant differences were detected between the respiration rates of infected and uninfected animals. Decrease in the production of infected host tissue became apparent as soon as the parasite was detectable. Over the first 6 months loss in production due to the parasite was 50%, and over the whole life-span 59·9%. The production: respiration ratio of infected tubificids was also lower, but differences in assimilation were probably only small. The overall effects of the parasite upon its host population are slight, and the loss in tubificid nutriment available for fish food due to the parasite is less than 5% and of little economic importance. The way in which the parasite actually influences its host's physiology is discussed, and the effect of C. laticeps upon its host's energy budget compared with that of a plerocercoid larva on its fish host.

I should like to thank Dr M. Palmer for the loan of her Warburg flasks, Mr J. Harris for taking samples for me when I was unable to do so,'and Mr G. G. Vickers for many helpful comments and discussions on ecological energetics. I am also grateful to Mr G. Baileyfor combusting the samples for me.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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

Berg, K., Jόnasson, P. M., & Ockelmann, K. W., (1962). The respiration of some animals from the profundal zone of a lake. Hydrobiologia 19, 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calentine, R. L., & De Long, B. L., (1966). Archigetes sieboldi (Cestoda: Caryophyllaeidae) in North America. Journal of Parasitology 52, 428–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calentine, R. L., & Williams, D. D., (1967). Larval development of Glaridacris confusa (Cestoda: Caryophyllaeidae). Journal of Parasitology 53, 692–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calentine, R. L., Christensen, B. M., & Christensen, L. A., (1970). Specificity of caryophyllaeid cestodes for their intermediate hosts. Journal of Parasitology 56, 346–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, G. E., &Warren, C. E., (1968). Estimation of food consumption rates. In Methods of Fish Production in Fresh Waters, ed. Ricker, W. E. IBP Handbook no. 3. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R., (1965). The life history of Archigetes limnodrili (Yamaguti) (Cestoda: Caryophyllaeidae) and its development in the invertebrate host. Parasitology 55, 427–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C. R., (1968). Population biology of the cestode Caryophyllaeus laticeps (Pallas, 1781) in dace, Leuciscus leuciscus L., of the River Avo. Journal of Parasitology 54, 538–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C. R., (1969 a). Seasonal incidence and development of the cestode Caryophyllaeus laticeps (Pallas) in the River Avon. Parasitology 59, 783–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, C. R., (1969 b). Tubificid oligochaetes as food of dace Leuciscus leuciscus (L.). Journal of Fish Biology, 1, 1115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C. R., (1971). Tubificid oligochaetes as food of coarse fish. Proceedings of the 4th British Coarse Fish Conference, pp. 21–4.Google Scholar
Klekowski, R. Z., & Guttowa, A., (1968). Respiration of Eudiaptomus gracilis infected with Diphyllobothrium latum. Experimental Parasitology 22, 279–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kulakowskaja, O. P., (1962). Development of Caryophyllaeidae (Cestoda) in an invertebrate host. (Russian text.). Zoologicheske Zhurnal 41, 986–92.Google Scholar
Kulakowskaja, O. P., (1964). Life cycles of Caryophyllaeidae (Cestoda) in the conditions of Western Ukraine. (Russian text.). Čskoslovenská parasitologie 11, 177–85.Google Scholar
Phillipson, J., (1966). Ecological Energetics. London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.Google Scholar
Sekutowicz, S., (1934). Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung und Biologie von Caryophyllaeus laticeps (Pallas). Mémoires de l' Académie Polonaise des Sciences et des Lettres B 7, 1126.Google Scholar
Walkey, M., & Meakins, R. H., (1970). An attempt to balance the energy budget of a host—parasite system. Journal of Fish Biology 2, 361–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar