Piscicola geometra | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Annelida |
Class: | Clitellata |
Subclass: | Hirudinea |
Order: | Rhynchobdellida |
Family: | Piscicolidae |
Genus: | Piscicola |
Species: | P. geometra |
Binomial name | |
Piscicola geometra | |
Synonyms | |
|
Piscicola geometra is a species of leech in the family Piscicolidae. It is an external parasite of marine, brackish and freshwater fishes. It was first described as Hirudo geometra by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758. [1]
This leech can grow to a length of 25 mm (1 in). It is pale brown, often with white transverse bands. [2]
This fish leech occurs in freshwater locations in the Holarctic and Neotropic regions and is found in northwestern Europe and in North America. [3] It is also present in some marine environments such as the Baltic Sea where it mainly parasitises shorthorn sculpin and flounders. [4] It occurs in both moving and stagnant water, [3] but seems to prefer well-oxygenated water at the wave-washed edges of lakes and rapidly flowing streams and rivers.[ citation needed ]
P. geometra is an ectoparasite of various fish species. Hosts include salmon (Salmo salar), brown trout (Salmo trutta), European eel (Anguilla anguilla), charr (Salvelinus alpinus), gudgeon (Gobio gobio), bream (Abramis brama), perch (Perca fluviatilis), Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio). The attachment site is on various parts of the body, on the gills or inside the mouth. [5]
This leech can swim well and is attracted by the presence of a suitable fish in its vicinity. It feeds periodically, attaching itself to the fish's body with its sucking disc before puncturing its skin with its proboscis and sucking its blood. When satiated, it releases its grip and sinks to the bottom, hiding among stones or submerged plants while digesting its meal. It needs several blood meals before it can reproduce. [2] The mid-gut and adjoining mycetomes (pouches), contain symbiotic bacteria which help with the digestion of blood, provide additional nutrients, and prevent the entry of pathogens. [5] [6]
Leeches are hermaphrodite and pair up to impregnate each other by hypodermic injection. [6] The eggs are laid in dark brown cocoons which are cemented to submerged objects. After the eggs hatch, the juvenile leeches must seek out suitable fish hosts. The whole life cycle takes about four weeks to complete. [2]
The Eurasian or European carp, formerly known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia. The native wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but the species has also been domesticated and introduced into environments worldwide, and is often considered a destructive invasive species, being included in the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. It gives its name to the carp family, Cyprinidae.
The brown trout is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, Salmo trutta morpha fario, a lacustrine ecotype, S. trutta morpha lacustris, also called the lake trout, and anadromous forms known as the sea trout, S. trutta morpha trutta. The latter migrates to the oceans for much of its life and returns to fresh water only to spawn. Sea trout in Ireland and Britain have many regional names: sewin in Wales, finnock in Scotland, peal in the West Country, mort in North West England, and white trout in Ireland.
The zander, sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Percidae, which includes the perches, ruffes and darters. It is found in freshwater and brackish habitats in western Eurasia. It is a popular game fish and has been introduced to a variety of localities outside its native range. It is the type species of the genus Sander.
The classification of European rivers comes from the fish fauna found in them. Changes in taxonomic composition relate to physical and chemical changes that occur longitudinally.
Rhynchobdellida, the jawless leeches or freshwater leeches, are an order of aquatic leeches. Despite the common name "freshwater leeches", species are found in both sea and fresh water. They are defined by the presence of a protrusible proboscis instead of jaws, and having colourless blood. They move by "inchworming" and are found worldwide. The order contains 110 species, divided into 41 genera and three families. Members of the order range widely in length, usually between 7 and 40 mm. They are hermaphrodite.
The European bullhead is a freshwater fish that is widely distributed in Europe, mainly in rivers. It is a member of the family Cottidae, a type of sculpin. It is also known as the miller's thumb, freshwater sculpin, and common bullhead.
In Britain and Ireland, coarse fishing refers to angling for rough fish, which are fish species traditionally considered undesirable as a food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids — most particularly salmon, trout and char — so generally coarse fish are freshwater fish that are not salmonids. There is disagreement over whether grayling should be classified as a game fish or a coarse fish.
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract. Both groups are hermaphrodites and have a clitellum, but leeches typically differ from the oligochaetes in having suckers at both ends and in having ring markings that do not correspond with their internal segmentation. The body is muscular and relatively solid, and the coelom, the spacious body cavity found in other annelids, is reduced to small channels.
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes, which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage, and are usually predators.
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.
Haemopis sanguisuga is a species of freshwater leech in the family Haemopidae. It is commonly called the horse-leech, but that is due to the similarity of its appearance to the leech Limnatis nilotica, which sometimes enters the nasal cavities of livestock. Haemopis sanguisuga does not behave in this way. Another synonym for this leech is Aulastomum gulo.
The Golden galaxias is an endangered species of landlocked galaxiid fish belonging to the genus Galaxias. It is endemic to Lakes Crescent, Sorell, and their associated waterways located in central Tasmania, Australia.
Argulus foliaceus is a species of crustaceans in the family Argulidae, the fish lice. It is sometimes called the common fish louse. It is "the most common and widespread native argulid in the Palaearctic" and "one of the most widespread crustacean ectoparasites of freshwater fish in the world", considering its distribution and range of hosts. It can cause the severe disease state argulosis in a wide variety of fish species. It is responsible for epizootic outbreaks that have led to the collapse of aquaculture operations. Fish lice are not related to lice, which are insects.
Hemibdella soleae is a marine species of leech in the family Piscicolidae and the type taxon of its genus. Found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, it is a parasite of flatfish such as the common sole.
The Piscicolidae are a family of jawless leeches in the order Rhynchobdellida that are parasitic on fish. They occur in both freshwater and seawater, have cylindrical bodies, and typically have a large, bell-shaped, anterior sucker with which they cling to their host. Some of the leeches in this family have external gills, outgrowths of the body wall projecting laterally, the only group of leeches to exchange gases in this way.
Theromyzon tessulatum is a species of leech in the family Glossiphoniidae. It is a haematophagous (blood-sucking) leech, found in freshwater habitats in Europe.
Pontobdella muricata is a species of marine leech in the family Piscicolidae. It is a parasite of fishes and is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Trachelobdella lubrica is a species of marine leech in the family Piscicolidae. It is a parasite of fish and has a worldwide distribution in the equatorial belt. It was first described in 1840 by the German zoologist Adolph Eduard Grube, the type locality being Palermo, Sicily, in the Mediterranean Sea.