Infection patterns of helminth community in black rockcod Notothenia coriiceps in West Antarctica over a 6-year term

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 122; no. 3; pp. 853 - 865
• Main Authors: Syrota, Yaroslav Y., Kuzmin, Yuriy I., Lisitsyna, Olga I., Salganskiy, Oleksander O., Dykyy, Ihor V., Korol, Eleonora M., du Preez, Louis H., Dmytrieva, Ivanna G., Kuzmina, Tetiana A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-03-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Antarctic Regions; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Ecosystem; Fishes; Helminthiasis, Animal - epidemiology; Helminthiasis, Animal - parasitology; Helminths; Immunology; Infections; Mammals; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Notothenia coriiceps; Perciformes - parasitology; Sebastes; Antarctic Regions; Antarctica; Component community; Antarctic black rockcod; Ukrainian Antarctic station; Infracommunity; Helminths
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-023-07785-8

Patterns of the rockcod
Notothenia coriiceps
infection with helminths were analysed to understand the dynamics of parasite communities in this Antarctic fish and to test their stability over time. The study was performed using helminth samples collected from 183
N. coriiceps
in 2014–2015 and 2020–2021 in the vicinity of the Ukrainian Antarctic station (UAS) “Akademik Vernadsky”, Galindez Island, Argentine Islands, West Antarctica. Overall, 25 helminth taxonomical categories (nine trematodes, four cestodes, five nematodes, and seven acanthocephalans) were subjected to analysis. A direct comparison of the helminth population characteristics showed that nine species significantly changed their infection parameters during the 6 years between the samples. Seven of them (
Pseudoterranova
sp.,
Contracaecum
sp.,
Ascarophis nototheniae
, monolocular metacestodes, bilocular metacestodes,
Metacanthocephalus rennicki
, and
Diphyllobothrium
sp.) were found to have a significant impact on the differences between helminth infracommunities in 2014–2015 and 2020–2021. Most studied patterns of helminth component community appeared to show a stable tendency, and observed fluctuations were close to the steady trend. Slight but significant changes in the infection patterns observed in this study might have been caused by changes in the populations of intermediate, paratenic, and definitive hosts of helminths (marine invertebrates, mammals, and birds), which participate in helminth transmission in Antarctic ecosystems.