0000000000190044
AUTHOR
J. Taskinen
Factors affecting the intensity of epidermal papillomatosis in populations of roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), estimated as scale coverage
Studies of epidermal papillomatosis in fish populations have only rarely focused on the intensity of the disease, i.e. the number and size of papillomas. Furthermore, the methods used to evaluate the intensity of papillomatosis have not been standardized. We tested the reliability of a method based on counting of scales covered by papilloma tumours in roach, Rutilus rutilus (L). In addition, we studied the frequency distributions of the number of scales covered by papillomas within populations, evaluated the correlation between the prevalence and mean intensity of the disease among populations and examined the intensity of papillomatosis in roach with respect to sex and size of fish. Reliab…
ASPECTS OF THE ECOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF PARAERGASILUS RYLOVI (COPEPODA, ERGASILIDAE) PARASITIC IN UNIONIDS OF FINLAND
The distribution of Paraergasilus rylovi in 17 populations of unionids was investigated. In 1 unionid population, the parasite was studied regarding host age, size, sex, and the reproductive period (occurrence of egg sacs). Results from pooled material from the years 1987--1989 and 1996 (southern Finland, 11 populations) indicated that Anodonta piscinalis (n = 1,359) is the main host (total mean prevalence 71% and intensity +/-SE of infection 16.4+/-0.6). Pseudanodonta complanata (n = 106) was infected occasionally (3% and 1.3+/-0.3), whereas Unio pictorum (n = 108) and U. tumidus (n = 17) were not infected. Results from 17 A. piscinalis populations showed that P. rylovi occurs in southern …
Sperm quality, secondary sexual characters and parasitism in roach (Rutilus rutilus L.)
According to sperm competition models, a male spawning in a disfavoured role should have spermatozoa with higher velocity but shorter longevity compared with a male spawning in a favoured role. Moreover, immunosuppressive androgens are needed to produce both secondary sexual characters and sperm cells. The ‘sperm protection’ hypothesis suggests that the immunosuppressive action of androgens has evolved to protect haploid spermatozoa, which are antigenic, from autoimmune attacks. Therefore, a male with high sexual ornamentation may be more susceptible to diseases but may possess better quality ejaculate than his less ornamented rival. We studied sexual ornamentation (breeding tubercles), eja…
Hydraulic Habitat Structure Impacts Risk of Trematode Infection
Abstract— Variability in infection rates of trematodes Diplostomum pseudospathaceum in 0+ rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss under different hydraulic regimes was studied in the experimental setup with regulated flow rates and environmental heterogeneity. The average infection rate in the conditions of the current was 1.5 times less than that in the stagnant water. An increase of the flow rate from 3.2 to 11.3 cm/s did not result in lower infection rates, while the interindividual variability in the infection rate (coefficient of variation) tended to increase along with changing the still-water conditions (20%) to the high flow rate environments (40%) within the experiment. A decrease in th…
Индивидуальность поведения рыб влияет на риск заражения паразитами [Personality influences risk of parasitism in fish]
Influence of fish personality on infection rate is almost not studied. In the experiments on the young-of-the-year Oncorhynchus mykiss and cercariae of a trematode Diplostomum pseudospathaceum we tested the hypothesis that infection rate differs between more and less active (“bold” and “shy”) fish. Will individual differences in infection persist upon re-infection? Fish serve as a second intermediate host for this trematode. A positive correlation was found between the results of consecutive infections. Accumulation of parasites with successive infections leads to an aggregated distribution of D. pseudospathaceum among the hosts, affecting individual fitness and polymorphism in fish populat…
Immunocompetence and resource holding potential in the damselfly, Calopteryx virgo L
It is generally believed that resource holding potential reliably reflects male quality, but empirical evidence showing this is scarce. Here we show that the outcome of male-male competition may predict male immunocompetence in the territorial damselfly, Calopteryx virgo (Odonata: Calopterygidae). We staged contests between 27 pairs of males and found that winners of the contests showed higher immunocompetence, measured as encapsulation response, compared with that of losers. Furthermore, the winners had larger fat reserves. We also collected 29 males that had not been used in staged contests, and found that in these males encapsulation response correlated positively with an individual’s fa…
Burrowing behaviour affects Paraergasilus rylovi abundance in Anodonta piscinalis.
Burrowing depth may affect predation rate, feeding ability and reproduction in bivalve clams. We studied the effect of burrowing depth on the abundance of the ergasilid Paraergasilus rylovi in the freshwater bivalve clam Anodonta piscinalis. We transplanted uninfected clams to a lake where they were allowed to choose their preferred burrowing depth, and were exposed naturally to copepodids of the parasite. There was a significant positive correlation between proportionate burrowing depth (PBD) and the abundance of P. rylovi at the end of the 17-day experiment, the deeper-burrowed clams harbouring more P. rylovi. Original PBD (0%, 50%, 100%) did not influence the final PBD or parasite abunda…
Long-lasting effect of stress on susceptibility of a freshwater clam to copepod parasitism.
The question whether a stress event can have a long-lasting effect on susceptibility to parasites was studied using a freshwater bivalve clam and its crustacean parasite as a model system. Anodonta piscinalis clams were collected from 2 populations during August–September 2002. Clams were transported to the laboratory and marked. The stressed clams were subjected to low oxygen for 25 days, while the unstressed control clams were caged in their lakes of origin for the same period. Then the clams were transported to a third lake where they were exposed to natural infections by the ergasilid copepod, Paraergasilus rylovi , 11 months after the stress event. The stressed clams were more intensiv…
Effects of testosterone and β-glucan on immune functions in tench
A hormone manipulation was performed to examine the effects of testosterone on basal and β-glucan-induced immune functions in wild-caught male and female tench Tinca tinca. Testosterone administration elevated testosterone concentration in plasma, but did not suppress lytic activity of plasma or the chemiluminescence response of blood or head kidney phagocytes in any of the three successive samples or in any of the treatment groups. Both testosterone and β-glucan administrations had a negative effect on the relative mass of the spleen, and testosterone-treated fish lost more mass than control fish. Males had a relatively larger spleen than females, but there were no gender differences in im…
Epizootic cutaneous papillomatosis, cortisol and male ornamentation during and after breeding in the roach Rutilus rutilus.
The prevalence of epidermal papillomatosis in roach is known to peak during the spawning period and to be higher in males than in females. The high occurrence of papillomatosis in polluted waters suggests that stress may contribute to the outbreak of the disease. However, little is known about breeding-induced stress in fish and its relationship with diseases. In this study, plasma cortisol concentration, hematocrit and the relative size of the spleen were determined in healthy and diseased male and female roach Rutilus rutilus during and shortly after spawning in a wild population. In addition, the sexual ornamentation (breeding tubercles on the lateral sides and on the frontal) of male ro…
Gender- and season-dependent relationships between testosterone, oestradiol and immune functions in wild roach
Plasma testosterone and 17β-oestradiol concentrations, differential leukocyte counts and proportion of dead Rhipidocotyle campanula gill parasites (parasite resistance) were determined five times during a year in two populations of roach Rutilus rutilus and analysed for seasonal and gender differences. In addition to the above immune variables, plasma Immunoglobulin M (IgM) concentration, chemiluminescence and migration differential of head kidney phagocytes, size of the spleen, haematocrit and total leukocyte count were correlated with sex hormones for each population, sampling time and sex separately, using condition factor as a partial correlate. There were no clear gender differences in…
Echo-sounding can discriminate between fish and macroinvertebrates in fresh water
SUMMARY 1. Acoustic scattering from fish and macroinvertebrates was studied in a boreal Finnish lake at three echosounder frequencies (38, 120 and 200 kHz). Split-beam transducers with partly overlapping 7� beams were employed. Acoustic, fish and invertebrate sampling were undertaken simultaneously. Vertical gradients of temperature and oxygen concentration were measured during the exercise. 2. At all frequencies, a narrow scattering layer coincided with the thermocline. At 38 kHz, fish were detected well with practically no reverberation from invertebrates while 200 kHz detected both fish and invertebrates. 3. Minor differences in the magnitude of acoustic scattering from fish were found b…