Abstract
Introduced alien fish species and their associated parasites may result in a serious threat to indigenous biodiversity. Furthermore, this may have negative impacts on cultured fish as well as on native parasitic fauna. In the present study, the invasive Asian nematode, Camallanus cotti Fujita, 1927 (Nematoda: Camallanidae), is reported from the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) for the first time in Africa. This parasite is assumed to be introduced into Africa along with the introduction of exotic poeciliid fishes, which are known to be the most common hosts of C. cotti in ornamental fish industry worldwide.
The presence of this parasite in both aquarium-cultured fish as well as fish from natural waterbodies is evidence of the introduction of the alien organisms due to insufficient prophylactic veterinary control during transfer of non-native hosts between countries and the spread of them by the anthropogenic introduction to natural systems.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the University of Limpopo, Department of Biodiversity for the use of facilities, Dr. F Moravec for his guidance in parasite identification, Dr. C Baker for preparing the scanning electron micrographs, and Prof. PAS Olivier for editorial comments.
This work is based on the research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa (grant no. 101054).
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Tavakol, S., Halajian, A., Smit, W.J. et al. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) introducing an alien parasite, Camallanus cotti (Nematoda: Camallanidae) to Africa, the first report. Parasitol Res 116, 3441–3445 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5657-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5657-x