Adjustment of anisakid nematode life cycles to the high Antarctic food web as shown by Contracaecum radiatum and C. osculatum in the Weddell Sea | Antarctic Science | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)
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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2004
Heinz Klöser
Affiliation:
Alfred-Wegener-Institute für Polar-und Meeresforschung, Columbusstraße, D-2850 Bremerhaven, Germany
Joachim Plötz
Affiliation:
Alfred-Wegener-Institute für Polar-und Meeresforschung, Columbusstraße, D-2850 Bremerhaven, Germany
Annette Bartsch
Affiliation:
Alfred-Wegener-Institute für Polar-und Meeresforschung, Columbusstraße, D-2850 Bremerhaven, Germany
Gerd Hubold
Affiliation:
Bundesforschungsanstalt für Fischerei, Palmaille 9, D-2000 Hamburg 50, Germany
Abstract
The infestation of Weddell seals and several fish species by the anisakid nematodes Contracaecum osculatum and C. radiatum was compared. Nematode numbers in Weddell seal stomachs ranged from 30 560 to 122 640. Third stage larvae from seals and fish were separated into a short and a long type. The short type was related to C. radiatum and the long type to C. osculatum. The short type was more abundant in pelagic fish species, whereas the long type prevailed in benthic fish species. Fish-feeding channichthyids Cryodraco antarcticus and Chionodraco myersi seemed to play an important role as paratenic hosts for the third stage larvae of both Contracaecum species. Different advantageous and detrimental features of a benthic versus a pelagic life cycle under high Antarctic ecological conditions are discussed. Varying abundance of the two nematode species in hosts may be controlled by differences in their life cycles, which follow either a pelagic or a benthic food web. Crucial importance is thus given to the local availability of pelagic versus benthic food resources for Weddell seals.
Keywords
Type
Papers—Life Sciences and Oceanography
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1992
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