First record of ostracods as natural intermediate hosts of Anguillicola crassus, a pathogenic swimbladder parasite of eels Anguilla spp.
The ostracod Physocypria nipponica (Ostracoda: Candonidae) was found (prevalence 14.2%) to be the only intermediate host of the nematode Anguillicola crassus (Nematoda: Anguillicolidae), a pathogenic swimbladder parasite of eels, in a greenhouse-heated culture pond at Isshiki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Japanese eels Anguilla japonica from the same pond were found to be infected by adult A. crassus (prevalence 71.8%, intensity 1 to 6). This indicates that A. crassus could complete its life cycle under conditions of modern eel-culture technology where copepods were absent due to the unfavorable water quality for them, by utilizing ostracods as the intermediate host.
Moravec
Frantisek
F
Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branisovská 31, 370 05 Ceské Budĕjovice, Czech Republic. moravec@paru.cas.cz
Nagasawa
Kazuya
K
Miyakawa
Munenori
M
D000400:Air Sacs / Q000469:parasitology; D000811:Anguilla / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D003445:Crustacea / Q000469:parasitology*; D017176:Dracunculoidea / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*; D007564:Japan; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000502:physiology*