Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T02:21:35.124Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life cycle of the temporary fish parasite, Gnathia pilosus (Crustacea: Isopoda: Gnathiidae) from the east coast of South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Kerry A. Hadfield ,
Nico J. Smit  and
Annemarié Avenant-Oldewage
Kerry A. Hadfield
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
Nico J. Smit*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
Annemarié Avenant-Oldewage
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N.J. Smit, Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa email: nicos@uj.ac.za
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The life cycle of the South African gnathiid isopod, Gnathia pilosus, was studied using the common east coast tidal pool fish, Scartella emarginata and Antennablennius bifilum as hosts. Laboratory studies observing the feeding ecology of these temporary ectoparasites determined that the second and third unfed larval stages (zuphea larvae 2 and 3) took an average of 3 hours 52 minutes and 4 hours 19 minutes to feed respectively. After feeding, the second stage fed larvae (praniza 2) took 35 days to moult into the third zuphea form. Male and female praniza 3 larvae could be discerned before their final moults into adults which took place approximately 42 and 48 days respectively after their blood meals. Fertilization occurred within 24 hours after the female had completed her moult. It was thus estimated that the complete life cycle from the first larval stage to adult took between 134 to 140 days in water temperatures ranging between 20°C and 25°C. The length for this life cycle is unexpectedly long for gnathiids living in subtropical waters and may indicate that water temperature is not always the main factor in determining the duration of gnathiid life cycles.

Keywords

isopodgnathiidlife cyclelife stageectoparasiteGnathia pilosus
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 7 , November 2009 , pp. 1331 - 1339
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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

Barnard, K.H. (1914a) Contributions to the crustacean fauna of South Africa. 1. Additions to the marine Isopoda. Annals of the South African Museum 10, 197–230.Google Scholar
Barnard, K.H. (1914b) Contributions to the crustacean fauna of South Africa. 3. Additions to the marine Isopoda, with notes on some previously incompletely known species. Annals of the South African Museum 10, 325a–358a, 359–442.Google Scholar
Branch, G.M., Griffiths, C.L., Branch, M.L. and Beckley, L.E. (2004) Two oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers.Google Scholar
Charmantier, G. (1980) Étude écophysiologique des Crustaacés Isopodes Gnathiidae: osmorégulation et résistance à la dessiccation des mâles de Paragnathia formica. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 43, 161–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charmantier, G. (1982) Les glandes céphaliques de Paragnathia formica (Hesse. 1864) (Isopoda, Gnathiidae): location et ultrastructure. Crustaceana 42, 179–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grutter, A.S. and Poulin, R. (1998) Intraspecific and interspecific relationships between host size and the abundance of parasitic larval gnathiid isopods on coral reef fishes. Marine Ecology Progress Series 164, 263–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadfield, K.A. and Smit, N.J. (2008) Description of a new gnathiid, Afrignathia multicavea gen. et sp. n. (Crustacea: Isopoda: Gnathiidae), from South Africa. African Zoology 43, 81–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadfield, K.A., Smit, N.J. and Avenant-Oldewage, A. (2008) Gnathia pilosus sp. nov. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae) from the east coast of South Africa. Zootaxa 1894, 23–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heemstra, P. and Heemstra, E. (2004) Coastal fishes of South Africa. Grahamstown, South Africa: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and National Enquiry Service Centre.Google Scholar
Heupel, M.R. and Bennett, M.B. (1999) The occurrence, distribution and pathology associated with gnathiid isopod larvae infecting the epaulette shark, Hemiscyllium ocellatum. International Journal for Parasitology 29, 321–330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klitgaard, A.B. (1991) Gnathia abyssorum (G.O. Sars, 1872) (Crustacea, Isopoda) associated with sponges. Sarsia 76, 33–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munday, P.L., Schubert, M., Baggio, J.A., Jones, G.P., Caley, M.J. and Grutter, A.S. (2003) Skin toxins and external parasitism of coral-dwelling gobies. Journal of Fish Biology 62, 976–981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J. and Basson, L. (2002) Gnathia pantherina sp. n. (Crustacea: Isopoda: Gnathiidae), a temporary ectoparasite of some elasmobranch species from southern Africa. Folia Parasitologica 49, 137–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, N.J. and Davies, A. (2004) The curious life-style of the parasitic stages of gnathiid isopods. Advances in Parasitology 58, 289–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smit, N.J., Basson, L. and Van As, J.G. (2003) Life cycle of the temporary fish parasite, Gnathia africana (Crustacea: Isopoda: Gnathiidae). Folia Parasitologica 50, 135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoll, C. (1962) Cycle évolutif de Paragnathia formica (Hesse) (Isopoda: Gnathiidae). Cahiers de Biologie Marine 3, 401–416.Google Scholar
Tanaka, K. (2003) Population dynamics of the sponge-dwelling gnathiid isopod Elaphognathia cornigera. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 83, 95–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanaka, K. and Aoki, M. (2000) Seasonal traits of reproduction in gnathiid isopod Elaphognathia cornigera (Nunomura, 1992). Zoological Science 17, 467–475.Google Scholar
Tanaka, K. and Nishi, E. (2008) Habitat use by the gnathiid isopod Elaphognathia discolor living in terebellid polychaete tubes. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 88, 57–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Upton, N.P.D. (1987) Asynchronous male and female life cycles in the sexually dimorphic, harem-forming isopod Paragnathia formica (Crustacea: Isopoda). Journal of Zoology 212, 677–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wägele, J.W. (1988) Aspects of the life cycle of the Antarctic fish parasite Gnathia calva Vanhöffen (Crustacea: Isopoda). Polar Biology 8, 287–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar