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Tell me who you go with and I will tell you what you do: Antarctic seal lice behave differently

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Abstract

Lice of the family Echinophthiriidae are obligate and permanent ectoparasites of pinnipeds and sea otters. Morphological, ecological, and behavioral adaptations have enabled them to survive in their amphibian hosts. However, it has been shown experimentally that the eggs do not survive submerged. This physiological limitation restricts their reproductive events to the terrestrial periods of their hosts, mainly during molting and reproduction. We studied the reproductive strategies of Antarctophthirus lobodontis on crabeater seals (CS, n = 54) and A. carlinii on Weddell seals (WS, n = 54) from Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula, during the molting season. Lice were sexed and classified as adults or nymphs under a stereomicroscope. The 20.37% of the CS had potentially viable eggs and all the nymphal stages and adults. However, in the WS, we only found N3 and adults. Our results would suggest that A. lobodontis lays viable eggs that can survive immersion. Instead, the transmission of A. carlinii would be mainly by adults. According to previous studies, A. carlinii would reproduce during the reproductive season of WS. These reproductive strategies of seal lice would be related to the life history of their host, mainly to diving behavior and the haul-out patterns during their life cycle, reflecting the strong co-adaptation and co-evolution mechanisms between seals and lice. The differences in the population structure of the two species observed here may indicate that they are different species, or at least that they have undergone different co-evolutionary processes depending on the habit of their hosts.

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The data described in this article can be freely and openly accessed as Supplementary material.

Abbreviations

CS:

Crabeater seal

WS:

Weddell seal

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Acknowledgements

The study was financially and logistically supported by the Dirección Nacional del Antártico, Instituto Antártico Argentino. The permit for this work was granted by the Dirección Nacional del Antártico (Environmental Office). The authors support and defend the Argentinian Scientific Program, understanding science as an act of sovereignty.

Funding

This research was funded by the Agencia de Promoción Científica Tecnológica (PICT 2015–0082, PICT 2018–0537, PICT 2020–0400). This research was also funded by a Research Project from the Secretariat of Science and Technology of the UNPSJB (PI 1492- 80020180100018UP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR), CONICET, Boulevard Brown 2915, PC 9120, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina

    Florencia Anabella Soto & María Soledad Leonardi

  2. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución (IEGEBA), CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    José Emilio Crespo

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Avenida 122 y 60, PC 1900, La Plata, Argentina

    Javier Negrete

  4. Departamento de Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, PC 1010, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Javier Negrete

Authors
  1. Florencia Anabella Soto
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  2. José Emilio Crespo
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  3. Javier Negrete
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  4. María Soledad Leonardi
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Contributions

FAS and MSL wrote the main manuscript text; FAS, MSL, JEC, and JN conceived the ideas and designed the methodology; FAS, MSL and JN, collected and processed the samples; FAS and JEC analyzed the samples and data; FAS, MSL, JEC, and JN led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Florencia Anabella Soto.

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Additional file 1:

Infestation parameters for each species; lice sex and classification as adults or nymphs

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Soto, F.A., Crespo, J.E., Negrete, J. et al. Tell me who you go with and I will tell you what you do: Antarctic seal lice behave differently. Mar Biol 171, 68 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04386-y

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