Ergasilus curticrus

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Ergasilus curticrus
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Maxillopoda
Subclass:
Copepoda
Order:
Poecilostomatoida
Family:
Ergasilidae
Genus:
Ergasilus
Species:
E. curticrus
Binomial name
Ergasilus curticrus
Muriel-Hoyos, Santana-Pineros, Cruz-Quintana, & Suárez-Morales, 2015

Ergasilus curticrus is a freshwater parasitic copepod named in 2015. Described from the Orinoco river basin, it was found solely to be hosted by individuals of the Characiform fish species Bryconops giacopinii . Of those located in South America, it is one of only five species in its genus to be found outside of Brazil.

Contents

Description

Ergasilus curticrus is a small gill parasite that ranges from 581–758 μm, with an average of 675 μm. Its swimming legs are biramous (two-branched), with the endopod (outer branch) longer than the exopod (inner branch), and one of its most distinctive features involves its fourth swimming leg. The exopod therein has only a single segment, where the rest of its swimming legs (legs 1-3) have between 4 and 6. [1] It is not uncommon for members of Ergasilus to be equipped with setae (stiff hairlike structures) on various body parts, and in E. curticrus the endopods of legs 2 and 3 only have a singular seta. [2]

Sexual dimorphism

Members of Ergasilus display remarkable sexual dimorphism. Mature females are largely gill parasites, and males are planktonic and free-swimming, as well as the young. [3] [4] E. curticrus is no exception to this, originally described from a collection of 14 female specimens collected from the gills of characoid fish. [1]

Taxonomy

Ergasilus is a remarkably speciose genus with nearly 200 species named and accepted. [5] E. curticrus is a relatively recent addition, described in 2015. [6] (The most recent addition is Ergasilus yandemontei, described in 2021.) [7] It has no known scientific synonyms, having retained its original name since discovery.

Etymology

The specific name "curticrus" means "short leg". The Latin "curti-" means "short" (consider the word "curt"), and "crus" means "leg" or "lower leg" (especially in anatomy). This is in reference to the unique brevity of the exopod associated with the fourth swimming leg. [1] The meaning of the generic name Ergasilus is unknown; etymology was not provided upon description of the type species, Ergasilus sieboldi, by Alexander von Nordmann in 1832. [8]

Ergasilus curticrus has no species-specific common name, but members of Ergasilis as a genus are commonly referred to as "gill lice". [9]

Distribution and habitat

While 69 species of Ergasilus are known from Brazil, only 5 in South America are known from outside of it. E. curticrus is the first new species to be described from the Orinoco, and one of three from Colombia. Specifically, it is found in the Vichada river. [1] It is the only Colombian ergasilid from the Eastern Plains region of the Orinoco watershed. [10] Other species of ergasilids have been described worldwide. [11]

Diet and ecology

Ergasilus curticrus is only known to parasitize Bryconops giacopinii . [10] This level of host specificity is not unknown in South America n ergasilids. [3] Ergasilids attach to a host by way of a specialized claw on the tip of their second pair of antennae, and members of Ergasilus specifically consume gill tissue, which includes blood, mucus, and gill epithelium. [12] [13]

Severe infection by Ergasilus parasites has been shown to reduce the oxygen intake of infected fish, largely by obstruction of gill filaments. [14] It can also make the fish in question overproduce gill mucus as an immune response, further interfering with proper oxygen intake. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copepod</span> Subclass of crustaceans

Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic, some are benthic, a number of species have parasitic phases, and some continental species may live in limnoterrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests, bogs, springs, ephemeral ponds, and puddles, damp moss, or water-filled recesses (phytotelmata) of plants such as bromeliads and pitcher plants. Many live underground in marine and freshwater caves, sinkholes, or stream beds. Copepods are sometimes used as biodiversity indicators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poecilostomatoida</span> Suborder of crustaceans

Poecilostomatoida are an suborder of copepods. Although it was previously considered a separate order, recent research showed it to be nested within the Cyclopoida

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ergasilidae</span> Family of crustaceans

Ergasilidae is a widespread family of copepods and comprises many species. The type genus is Ergasilus. With a few doubtful exceptions all ergasilids are parasitic on fishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monstrilloida</span> Order of crustaceans

Monstrilloida is an order of copepods with a cosmopolitan distribution in the world's oceans. The order contains a single family, Monstrillidae. The name of the first ever described genus Monstrilla is derived from latin, meaning "tiny monster", because the lack of usual diagnostic features of copepods puzzled early taxonomists.

Bomolochidae is a family of copepods parasitic on marine fishes. Most species parasitize the gills of fish, but some species live in the nostrils or on the eyes of their hosts. The family contains just over 150 species from the following genera:

Paralubbockia longipedia is a species of copepod, and the only member of the family Paralubbockiidae. The family is characterised by the ventral position of the fifth legs, the possession of a separate maxillary palp, and the form of the endopods of the legs and antennae. The closest relatives of Paralubbockia are the family Oncaeidae. Initially placed among the Poecilostomatoida, Paralubbockia is now considered part of the Cyclopoida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandr Markevich</span>

Oleksandr Prokopovych Markevych, in English more often Aleksandr Prokofyevich Markevich was a Ukrainian zoologist, and a prolific helminthologist and copepodologist. He was professor and an Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

<i>Clausidium</i> Genus of crustaceans

Clausidium is a genus of copepods that have been found in subtopical to temperate coastal areas along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America, the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts of South America, the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe, the Atlantic coast of Africa, and the coast of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennellidae</span> Family of crustaceans

Pennellidae is a family of parasitic copepods. When anchored on a host, they have a portion of the body on the outside of the host, whereas the remaining anterior part of the parasite is hidden inside tissues of the host.

<i>Lernaeocera branchialis</i> Species of crustacean

Lernaeocera branchialis, sometimes called cod worm, is a parasite of marine fish, found mainly in the North Atlantic. It is a marine copepod which starts life as a small pelagic crustacean larva. It is among the largest of copepods, ranging in size from 2 to 3 millimetres when it matures as a copepodid larva to more than 40 mm as a sessile adult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lernaeopodidae</span> Family of crustaceans

Lernaeopodidae is a family of parasitic copepods. The females are typically large and fleshy, and attach to the host permanently using a plug made of chitin called the bulla. The males cling on to the females using their antennae. They parasitize both marine and freshwater fish. Some lernaeopodids, including Clavella and Salmincola, can have negative impacts on fish in aquaculture.

Pennella is a genus of large copepods which are common parasites of large pelagic fishes. They begin their life cycle as a series of free-swimming planktonic larvae. The females metamorphose into a parasitic stage when they attach to a host and enter into its skin. The males are free swimming. Due to their large size and mesoparasitic life history there have been a number of studies of Pennella, the members of which are among the largest of the parasitic Copepoda. All species are found as adults buried into the flesh of marine bony fish, except for a single species, Pennella balaenopterae which can be found in the muscles and blubber of cetaceans and occasionally other marine mammals, and is the largest species of copepod.

Pennella balaenopterae is a large ectoparasitic copepod specialising in parasitising marine mammals. It is the largest member of the genus Pennella, the other species of which are parasites of larger marine fish.

Eudactylinidae is a family of copepods most of which live as parasites on the gills of elasmobranch fishes; two genera lives on the gills of teleost fishes. The family Eudactylinidae contains the following genera:

Tracheliastes polycolpus is a species of copepod in the family Lernaeopodidae. It is an ectoparasite of a number of freshwater fish in Western Europe, including the beaked dace Leuciscus burdigalensis, the common dace Leuciscus leuciscus, and occasionally a few other fish species. The subspecies Tracheliastes polycolpus baicalensis has been described from Lake Baikal. The parasite attaches itself to the fins of the host, and lives on the mucus and epithelial cells of the host.

Archidactylina is a genus of copepods that contains only the species Archidactylina myxinicola, and is the only genus in the family Archidactylinidae. It is a parasite of the gill pouches of two species of hagfish found in Japanese waters, Eptatretus okinoseanus and Myxine garmani.

Peniculisa is a genus of marine parasitic copepods in the family Pennellidae.

<i>Peniculus</i> (crustacean) Genus of copepods

Peniculus is a genus of marine copepods in the family Pennellidae. They occur worldwide and typically parasitize coastal or epipelagic fish, with the exception of Peniculus hokutoae that was found parasitizing a mesopelagic myctophid, Symbolophorus evermanni.

<i>Peniculus minuticaudae</i> Species of Maxillopoda

Peniculus minuticaudae is a species of parasitic pennellid copepod. It is known from the northeast Pacific Ocean. It was originally described in 1956, redescribed in 2012, and its complete life cycle has been elucidated on the cultured threadsail filefish, Stephanolepis cirrhifer in 2013.

<i>Bryconops giacopinii</i> Species of fish

Bryconops giacopinii is a mid-sized species of freshwater fish in the family Iguanodectidae. It is the largest member of the genus Bryconops, and is therefore difficult to confuse with any of its congeners. With a diet that consists largely of land-dwelling insects, it serves as an important link between the terrestrial and aquatic aspects of its native range.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Muriel-Hoyos, Felipe; Santana-Piñeros, Ana María; Cruz-Quintana, Yanis; Suárez-Morales, Eduardo (November 2015). "A new species of Ergasilus Nordmann, 1832 (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Ergasilidae) from Bryconops giacopinii Fernández-Yépez (Characidae) in the Vichada River Basin, Colombia". Systematic Parasitology. 92 (3): 241–249. doi:10.1007/s11230-015-9599-3. PMID   26446546. S2CID   18729069 . Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  2. ↑ Damborenea, Cristina; Rogers, D. Christopher; Thorp, James H. (26 June 2020). Thorp and Covich's freshwater invertebrates. Volume V, Keys to neotropical and Antarctic fauna (Fourth ed.). Amsterdam: Academic Press. p. 788. ISBN   9780128042663 . Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Parasite Introduction". USGS Great Lakes Science Center: Great Lakes Copepods. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  4. ↑ "Ergasilus spp.". UNH Center for Freshwater Biology. University of New Hampshire. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  5. ↑ Boxshall, Geoff; Chad, T. Walter. "Ergasilus von Nordmann, 1832". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  6. ↑ Walter, T. Chad. "Ergasilus curticrus Muriel-Hoyos, Santana-Pineros, Cruz-Quintana & Suarez-Morales, 2015". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  7. ↑ Geoff, Boxshall. "Ergasilus yandemontei Waicheim, Mendes Marques, Rauque & Viozzi, 2021". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  8. ↑ von Nordmann, Alexander (1832). Mikrographische Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der wirbellosen Thiere: Band 1. Berlin: Reimer Verlag. pp. 143–152. ISBN   9781273735165 . Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  9. ↑ Chivetta, Mary (2012). "The prevalence and effects of Ergasilus (gill lice) on fish species in two Northern Wisconsin lakes" (PDF). University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center. Retrieved 22 November 2022.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. 1 2 Gaviria, Santiago; Aranguren-Riaño, Nelson (15 June 2019). "Continental copepods (Crustacea: Hexanauplia) of Colombia: revision and additions to the inventory". Biota Colombiana. 20 (1): 50–74. doi: 10.21068/c2019.v20n01a04 . Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  11. ↑ Orsi, Taisa Mendes Marques (18 December 2018). "Sistemática e História Evolutiva de Ergasilidae (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopoida)" (in Spanish). Curitiba: Universidade Federal do Paraná. Retrieved 22 November 2022.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ↑ Ho, Ju-Shey (February 1978). "Marine Flora and Fauna of the Northeastern United States. Copepoda: Cyclopoids Parasitic on Fishes" (PDF). NOAA Technical Report Circular. 409. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  13. 1 2 Kilian, Esmari; Avenant-Oldewage, Annemariè (December 2013). "Infestation and Pathological Alterations by Ergasilus sarsi (Copepoda) on the Tanganyika Killifish from Africa". Journal of Aquatic Animal Health. 25 (4): 237–242. doi:10.1080/08997659.2013.812874. PMC   3805422 . PMID   24341764.
  14. ↑ "Ergasilus sieboldi" (PDF). Environment Agency Fact Sheets. UK Institute of Fisheries Management. Retrieved 23 November 2022.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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