Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Morphological and functional structure of two Ergasilidae parasites determine their microhabitat affinity on the gills of an Anostomidae fish from the Amazon

  • Fish Parasitology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Parasitology Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the microhabitat affinities of Ergasilus sp. and Therodamas longicollum on the gills of Leporinus fasciatus (“aracu-piau”), an anostomid fish from the Amazon. A total of 143 specimens of L. fasciatus were examined, of which 35% had their gills parasitized by at least one ergasilid species. A total of 159 specimens of Ergasilus sp. and 97 specimens of T. longicollum were recovered. Both ergasilids species exhibited a greater affinity for attachment in arch 1 of the gills of the host. There was a negative correlation between the abundance of Ergasilus sp. and the abundance of T. longicollum within each gill arch. Analysis of distribution along the gill arch showed a higher occurrence of Ergasilus sp. in Section 5, while T. longicollum occurred mainly in Section 3 of the gills. There was a positive correlation between the abundance of these ectoparasites and the size of the gill arch. Ergasilus sp. occurred only on the filament of the gill arch and exhibited affinity for the proximal region, while T. longicollum occurred only in the gill arch itself. The results reveal that these two parasite species compete in the gills of the host without the overlapping of their niches.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and material

Not applicable.

Code availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Baker TG, Pante E, De Buron I (2005) Co-occurrence of Naobranchia lizae (Copepoda) and Metamicrocotyla macracantha (Monogenea), gill parasites of the striped mullet Mugil cephalus. Parasitol Res 97:515–520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-1485-5

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Begon M, Townsend CR, Harper JL (2006) Ecology from individuals to ecosystems, 4th edn. Blackwell Publishing, Incorporated, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett SM, Bennett MB (2001) Gill pathology caused by infestations of adult and preadult Dissonus manteri Kabata (Copepoda: Dissonidae) on coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus (Lacépède), (Serranidae). J Fish Dis 24:523–533. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2761.2001.00321.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berrouk H, Tolba M, Boucenna I et al (2018) Copepod parasites of the gills of Luciobarbus callensis (Valencienne, 1842) and Carassius carassius (Linnaeus, 1758) (Cyprinid fish) collected from Beni Haroun Dam (Mila, Algeria). World J Environ Biosci 7:1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Boxshall GA, Defaye D (2008) Global diversity of copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595:195–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-9014-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush AO, Lafferty KD, Lotz JM, Shostak AWParasitolog meets ecology on its own terms: Marcoglis, et al (1997) Revisited*. J Parasitol 83:575–583

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • El-Rashidy H, Boxshall GA (2001) The mesoparasitic genera of the Ergasilidae (Copepoda): with descriptions of new species of Paeonodes Wilson and Therodamas Krøyer. Syst Parasitol 50:199–217. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012209101065

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friesen OC, Poulin R, Lagrue C (2018) Parasite-mediated microhabitat segregation between congeneric hosts. Biol Lett 14. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0671

  • Gause GF (1934) The Struggle for existence. The Williams & Wilkins Company, Baltimore

  • Gobbin TP, Vanhove MPM, Seehausen O, Maan ME (2021) Microhabitat distributions and species interactions of ectoparasites on the gills of cichlid fish in Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Int J Parasitol 51:201–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2020.09.001

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory RW, Bolker B, Bonebakker L et al (2020) gplots: Various R Programming Tools for Plotting Data

  • Hughes GM (1960) A comparative study of gill ventilation in marine teleosts. J Exp Biol 37:28–45. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.37.1.28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jerônimo GT, Gonçalves ELT, Bampi D et al (2013) Microhabitat of monogenea and copepodids of Lernaea cyprinacea on the gills of four brazilian freshwater fish. Neotrop Helminthol 7:65–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Lo CM, Morand S (2001) Gill parasites of Cephalopholis argus (Teleostei: Serranidae) from Moorea (French Polynesia): site selection and coexistence. Folia Parasitol (Praha) 48:30–36. https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2001.006

  • Morton B (1974) Host specificity and position on the host in Nerocila phaeopleura Bleeker (Isopoda, Cymothoidae). Crustaceana 26:143–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neuwirth E (2014) RColorBrewer: ColorBrewer Palettes. R package

  • Oksanen JF, Blanchet G, Friendly M, et al (2020) vegan: community ecology package. R package

  • Oliveira MSB, Corrêa LL, Adriano EA, Tavares-Dias M (2021) Integrative taxonomy of a new species of Therodamas (Ergasilidae) infecting the Amazonian freshwater fish Leporinus fasciatus (Anostomidae). Parasitol Res 1986https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07256-y

  • Paling JE (1968) A method of estimating the relative volumes of water flowing over the different gills of a freshwater fish. J Exp Biol 48:533–544. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.48.3.533

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2021) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing

  • Ramasamy P, Ramalingam K, Hanna REB, Halton DW (1985) Microhabitats of gill parasites (Monogenea and Copepoda) of teleosts (Scomberoides spp.). Int J Parasitol 15:385–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7519(85)90023-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rameshkumar G, Ravichandran S, Sivasubramanian K (2013) Invasion of parasitic isopods in marine fishes. J Coast Life Med 1:88–94. https://doi.org/10.12980/jclm.1.2013b1340

  • Rijin K, Sudha K, Vineesh PJ, Anilkumar G (2019) Seasonal variation in the occurrence of parasitic isopods and copepods (Crustacea) infecting the clupeidaen fishes of Malabar Coast, India. Turkish J Fish Aquat Sci 19:241–249. https://doi.org/10.4194/1303-2712-v19_03_07

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott-Holland TB, Bennett SM, Bennett MB (2006) Distribution of an asymmetrical copepod, Hatschekia plectropomi, on the gills of Plectropomus leopardus. J Fish Biol 68:222–235. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-1112.2006.00895.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siquieer GF (2012) Spatial distribuition and microhabitat selection of Copepods (Copepoda, Ergasilidae), gills parasites of Mugil platanus (Pisces, Mugilidae) from Laguna de Rocha, Uruguay. Boletín La Soc Zoológica Del Uruguay 21:39–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Song Y, Wang GT, Yao WJ et al (2008) Phylogeny of freshwater parasitic copepods in the Ergasilidae (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida) based on 18S and 28S rDNA sequences. Parasitol Res 102:299–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0764-8

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Soylu E, Çolak SÖ, Erdogan F et al (2013) Microhabitat distribution of Pseudodactylogyrus anguillae (Monogenea), Ergasilus gibbus and Ergasilus lizae (Copepoda) on the gills of european eels (Anguilla anguilla, L.). Acta Zool Bulg 65:251–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavares-Dias M, Dias-Júnior MBF, Florentino AC et al (2015) Distribution pattern of crustacean ectoparasites of freshwter fish from Brazil. Rev Bras Parasitol Vet 24:136–147. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-29612015036

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thatcher VE (2006) Amazon fish parasites. Pensoft, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Timi JT (2003) Habitat selection by Lernanthropus cynoscicola (Copepoda: Lernanthropidae): host as physical environment, a major determinant of niche restriction. Parasitology 127:155–163. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182003003470

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Velloso AL, Almeida FM, Cousin JCB, Pereira J Jr (2012) Histopatologia de brânquias de Paralichthys orbignyanus (Teleostei: Paralichthyidae) parasitado por Therodamas fluviatilis (Copepoda: Ergasilidae). Atlântica 34:47–52. https://doi.org/10.5088/atl.2012.34.1.47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams EH, Bunkley-Williams L (2019) Life cycle and life history strategies of parasitic crustacea. In: Smit N, Bruce N, Hadfield K (eds) Parasitic Crustacea. Zoological Monographs, vol 3. Springer pp 179–266

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. João Pena de Oliveira for his assistance in collecting the fish and to the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CNPq, Brazil) and the Coordination Office for Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES, Brazil) for the financial support.

Funding

This study received financial support from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CNPq, Brazil) through a productivity grant to Tavares-Dias, M (#303013/2015–0) and Adriano EA (304687/2020–0), and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES, Brazil) through the granting the doctoral scholarship to Oliveira, MSB (process number 88882.430002/2019–01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Tropical (PPGBio), Universidade Federal do Amapá (UNIFAP), Macapá, Amapá, Brazil

    Marcos S. B. Oliveira

  2. Grupo de Pesquisa em Ecologia e Manejo de Organismos e Ambientes Aquáticos (EMOA), Universidade do Estado do Amapá (UEAP), Macapá, Amapá, Brazil

    Luiza Prestes

  3. Departmento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Diadema, São Paulo, Brazil

    Edson A. Adriano

  4. Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Edson A. Adriano

  5. Embrapa Amapá, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil

    Marcos Tavares-Dias

Authors
  1. Marcos S. B. Oliveira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luiza Prestes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Edson A. Adriano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marcos Tavares-Dias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcos S. B. Oliveira.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Ethics approval to obtain access to genetic heritage was authorized by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (SISBio no 73550–1 and SisGen no AA4B6BA). This study was developed in accordance with the principles adopted by the Brazilian College of Animal Experimentation (COBEA) and was conducted under authorization from the Ethics Committee for Animal Use of Embrapa (protocol no 014/2018).

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

The authors declare that they are aware of the publication of this study.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Section Editor: Shokoofeh Shamsi.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 60 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Oliveira, M.S.B., Prestes, L., Adriano, E.A. et al. Morphological and functional structure of two Ergasilidae parasites determine their microhabitat affinity on the gills of an Anostomidae fish from the Amazon. Parasitol Res 121, 2295–2305 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07569-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07569-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation