6533b834fe1ef96bd129deff

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Studies on bucephalid digeneans parasitising molluscs and fishes in Finland I. Ecological data and experimental studies

E. Tellervo ValtonenDavid I. GibsonJouni Taskinen

subject

PerchbiologyEcologyIntermediate hostbiology.organism_classificationGenusAnimal ecologyBucephalus polymorphusParasitologycomputerMolluscaEsoxPikecomputer.programming_language

description

Two types of bucephalid cercariae are reported from the bivalve Anodonta anatina in two Finnish lakes. One, Type A, resembles in gross morphology the cercaria of Bucephalus polymorphus, and the other, Type B, resembles the cercaria of Rhipidocotyle campanula. Type A daughter-sporocysts develop more slowly, have a greater cercarial productivity and exhibit a differential diurnal rhythm to that of Type B. Cercariae of Type A have a shorter longevity than Type B and tend to encyst in the fins rather than the gill-arches of fish intermediate hosts. The main definitive host of Type A is pike Esox lucius and, in the case of Type B, perch Perca fluviatilis. Adults of Types A and B are morphologically very similar and both species belong to the genus Rhipidocotyle.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00009906