title: Anisakids of seals found on the southern coast of Baltic Sea.
abstract: In the present study 5 grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), 3 common seals (Phoca vitulina) and 1 ringed seal (Pusa hispida) bycaught or stranded on the Polish Baltic Sea coast in years 2000-2006 were investigated for the infestation of parasitic anisakid nematodes. 749 of anisakids were found. The most common were: Contracaecum osculatum (59.3%) and Pseudoterranova decipiens (31.0%). There were also small numbers of Anisakis simplex (0.8%). After performing RFLP three sibling species were found. C. osculatum was identified as C. osculatum C, P decipiens was identified as P. decipiens sensu stricto and A. simplex - A. simplex sensu stricto. Nematodes found in seals were mostly in L4 and adult life stage - both of them were equal with some minor variations among the specimens. Sex ratio was also equal, but there was slight excess of males in some cases. There was a minority of L3 larvae belonging to A. simplex species (0.8%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Laboratory of Parasitology and General Zoology, University of Gdansk, Faculty of Biology, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skrzypczak
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rokicki
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pawliczka
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Najda
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dzido
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017129:Anisakiasis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D017163:Anisakis / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development; D001454:Baltic States; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009792:Oceans and Seas / Q000453:epidemiology; D046048:Seals, Earless / Q000469:parasitology*