Search results for "Cataract formation"
showing 5 items of 5 documents
Water temperature, not fish morph, determines parasite infections of sympatric Icelandic threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
2013
Parasite communities of fishes are known to respond directly to the abiotic environment of the host, for example, to water quality and water temperature. Biotic factors are also important as they affect the exposure profile through heterogeneities in parasite distribution in the environment. Parasites in a particular environment may pose a strong selection on fish. For example, ecological differences in selection by parasites have been hypothesized to facilitate evolutionary differentiation of freshwater fish morphs specializing on different food types. However, as parasites may also respond directly to abiotic environment the parasite risk does not depend only on biotic features of the hos…
Lens Opacities in Valencia, Spain
2011
Purpose. To evaluate the most common lens opacities in Valencia (Spain), analyzed by gender, grade, and type of cataracts. The results are compared with other studies performed at other geographical latitudes and on different races. Methods. A total of 1951 eyes of patients diagnosed with cataracts, aged between 30 and 96 years, were evaluated in accordance with age, gender, type and degree of the cataract, bilaterality and symmetry of this disease. Lens Opacities Classification System III was used to classify the cataract and the degree was graded as mild or moderate to advanced. Results. The most common type of cataract is corticonuclear in the elderly and subcapsular in younger subjects.…
Spatiotemporal and gender-specific parasitism in two species of gobiid fish
2018
Parasitism is considered a major selective force in natural host populations. Infections can decrease host condition and vigour, and potentially influence, for example, host population dynamics and behavior such as mate choice. We studied parasite infections of two common marine fish species, the sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus) and the common goby (Pomatoschistus microps), in the brackish water Northern Baltic Sea. We were particularly interested in the occurrence of parasite taxa located in central sensory organs, such as eyes, potentially affecting fish behavior and mate choice. We found that both fish species harbored parasite communities dominated by taxa transmitted to fish through …
Parasite-induced change in host behaviour and susceptibility to predation in an eye fluke–fish interaction
2004
Abstract Trophically transmitted parasites may increase their transmission efficiency by altering the behaviour of infected hosts to increase their susceptibility to predation by target hosts (the next host in the life cycle). The parasite Diplostomum spathaceum (Trematoda) reduces the vision of its fish intermediate hosts: its metacercariae lodge themselves in the eyes of fish and induce cataract formation, which gives them the opportunity to affect fish behaviour. We examined whether D. spathaceum eye flukes change the preference of fish for the surface layers of the water column or their escape behaviour, which could make the fish more vulnerable to predation by bird hosts. We also studi…
Impaired crypsis of fish infected with a trophically transmitted parasite
2005
Trophically transmitted parasites may enhance their transmission by altering the phenotype of infected hosts to increase their vulnerability to predation by the next hosts in the life cycle. In an experimental study, we investigated whether the parasite Diplostomum spathaceum (Trematoda) alters cryptic coloration and cryptic behaviour of infected rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, so that they would be more conspicuous to avian predators. The parasite reduces the vision of fish by lodging in the eyes and inducing cataract formation, which gives it an opportunity to affect fish crypsis. We examined the effect of the parasite on the ability of fish to adjust their coloration to the environme…