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Prevalence of the Parasitic Copepod Haemobaphes intermedius on Juvenile Buffalo Sculpins from Washington State
Author(s) -
Halpenny C. M.,
Kocan R. M.,
Hershberger P. K.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of aquatic animal health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.507
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1548-8667
pISSN - 0899-7659
DOI - 10.1577/h04-006.1
Subject(s) - biology , juvenile , copepod , zoology , sympatric speciation , host (biology) , ecology , fishery , crustacean
The parasitic copepod, Haemobaphes intermedius , was detected in 62% of juvenile buffalo sculpins Enophrys bison , a previously unreported host, from the San Juan Islands archipelago in Washington State. Most infestations were characterized by the presence of a single female copepod infestations with multiple H. intermedius occurred either unilaterally or bilaterally in 29% of parasitized individuals. Impaired condition of parasitized hosts was indicated by significantly lower total lengths and weights (34.9 mm; 1.6 g) than in unparasitized cohorts (38.9 mm; 2.1 g). Host specificity was indicated by the failure to detect H. intermedius in 43 sympatric great sculpins Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus from the same location.