Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The role of the European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus, Cyprinidae) in parasite accumulation and transmission in riverine ecosystems

  • Published:
Aquatic Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In aquatic ecosystems, fish play a key role in parasite accumulation and transmission to predacious animals. In the present study, realized on seven populations of a small cyprinid fish species, the European bitterling Rhodeus amarus, we investigated (1) the role of the European bitterling as a potential intermediate or paratenic host, (2) the ability of the fish to accumulate parasites with similar final host group, and (3) its significance as a potential source of parasite infection in the ecosystem in respect to habitat characteristics. A total of 36 parasite species were recorded; 31 species (90% of all parasite specimens) were classified as endoparasites. Most of the endoparasites were found in the larval life stage, using bitterling as an intermediate or paratenic host. In particular, parasite community structure showed significantly higher proportions of allogenic parasites in comparison with autogenic. The supposed co-occurrence of parasite species with identical final host groups showed only a weak association. The adjacent reservoir areas were a significant determinant of both the total and infracommunity parasite species richness and for the mean parasite abundance. No relationship between the distance of sampling site from the adjacent reservoir and parasite community characteristics was found. As a small-sized fish with a wide distribution range and high local abundances, the European bitterling can represent a natural prey for a wide range of piscivorous predators. Due to its susceptibility to the number of larval endoparasites, this fish species may therefore fulfill the role as important transmitter of parasites to their final hosts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akmirza A (2007) The effect of Ligula intestinalis L. plerocercoid on the growth of bitterling (Rhodeus amarus Bloch, 1782). J Black Sea 13:155–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen KI, Valtonen ET (1992) Segregation and co-occurrence of larval cestodes in freshwater fishes in the Bothnian Bay, Finland. Parasitology 104:161–168

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer ON (1987) Key to the parasites of freshwater fishes in USSR. Nauka, Leningrad, p 584 (in Russian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohlen J, Šlechtová V, Bogutskaya N, Freyhof J (2006) Across Siberia and over Europe: phylogenetic relationship of the freshwater fish genus Rhodeus in Europe and phylogenetic position of R. sericeus from the River Amur. Mol Phylogenet Evol 40:856–865. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.04.020

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bush AO, Lafferty KD, Lotz JM, Shostak AW (1997) Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. J Parasitol 83:575–583

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bush AO, Fernández JC, Esch GW, Seed JR (2001) Parasitism, the diversity and ecology of animal parasites. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dávidová M, Ondračková M, Baruš V, Reichard M, Koubková B (2005) Nematode infections of the European bitterling (Rhodeus sericeus Pallas, 1776: Cypriniformes). Helminthologia 42:45–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Dávidová M, Ondračková M, Jurajda P, Gelnar M (2008) Parasite assemblages of European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus), composition and effects of habitat type and host body size. Parasitol Res 102:1001–1011. doi:10.1007/s00436-007-0867-2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ergens R, Lom J (1970) Causative agents of parasitic fish diseases. Academia, Prague

    Google Scholar 

  • Esch GW, Fernández JC (1993) A functional biology of parasitism. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Fellis KJ, Esch GW (2005) Autogenic-allogenic status affects interpond community similarity and species area relationship of macroparasites in the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus, from a series of freshwater ponds in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. J Parasitol 91:764–767

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gam M, Bazairi H, Jensen KT, De Montaudouin X (2008) Metazoan parasites in an intermediate host population near its southern border: the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) and its trematodes in a Moroccan coastal lagoon (Merja Zerga). JMBA 88:357–364. doi:10.1017/S0025315408000611

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelnar M, Koubková B, Pláňková H, Jurajda P (1994) Report on metazoan parasites of fishes of the River Morava with remarks on the effect of water pollution. Helminthologia 31:47–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Groenewold S, Berghahn R, Zander CD (1996) Parasite communities of four fish species in the Wadden Sea and the role of fish discarded by the shrimp fisheries in parasite transmission. Helgoländer Meeresunters 50:69–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gussev AV (1985) Monogenea. In: BAUER ON (ed) Identification key to parasites of fresh-water fishes. Part 2. Publ House Nauka, Leningrad

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer R, Harper DAT, Ryan PD (2001) PAST: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Paleontol Electron 4:9

    Google Scholar 

  • Holčík J (1999) Rhodeus sericeus. In: Banarescu PM (ed) The freshwater fishes of Europe 5/I. Cyprinidae. Aula, Wiesbaden

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson MW, Nelson PA, Dick TA (2004) Structuring mechanism of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) parasite communities: host age, diet, and local factors. Can J Zool 82:1291–1301. doi:10.1139/Z04-092

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kadlec D, Šimková A, Jarkovský J, Gelnar M (2003) Parasite community of freshwater fish under flood conditions. Parasitol Res 89:272–283. doi:10.1007/s00436-002-0740-2

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kozhara AV, Zhulidov AV, Gollasch S, Przybylski M, Poznyak VG, Zhulidov DA, Gurtovaya TY (2007) Range extension and conservation status of the bitterling Rhodeus sericeus amarus in Russia and adjacent countries. Folia Zool 56:97–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Morand S, Cribb TH, Kulbicki M, Rigby MC, Chauvet C, Dufour V, Faliex E, Galzin R, Lo CM, Lo-Yat A, Pichelin S, Sasal P (2000) Endoparasite species richness of New Caledonian butterfly fishes: host density and diet matter. Parasitology 121:65–73

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F (1994) Parasitic nematodes of freshwater fishes of Europe. Academia, Praha

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F, Huffman DG, Swim DJ (1995) The first record of fish as paratenic hosts of Falcaustra spp. (Nematoda: Kathianiidae). J Parasitol 81:809–812

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moravec F, Mendoza FE, Vivas RC (1998) Fish as paratenic hosts of Serpinema trispinosum (Leidy, 1852) (Nematoda: Camallanidae). J Parasitol 84:454–456

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niewiadomska K (2003) Parasites of fish in Poland (Digenea). Warsaw

  • Ondračková M, Šimková A, Gelnar M, Jurajda P (2004) Posthodiplostomum cuticola (Digenea: Diplostomatidae) in intermediate fish hosts: factors contributing to the parasite infection and prey selection by definitive bird host. Parasitology 129:761–770. doi:10.1017/S0031182004006456

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ondračková M, Dávidová M, Blažek R, Gelnar M, Jurajda P (2009) The interaction between an introduced fish host and local parasite fauna: Neogobius kessleri in the middle Danube River. Parasitol Res 105:201–208. doi:10.1007/s00436-009-1384-2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park JK, Kim KM, Kang S, Kim W, Eom KS, Littlewood DTJ (2007) A common origin of complex life cycles in parasitic flatworms: evidence from the complete mitochondrial genome of Microcotyle sebastis (Monogenea: Platyhelminthes). BMC Evol Biol 7:11. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poulin R (2007) Evolutionary ecology of parasites. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Przybylski M (1996) The diel feeding pattern of bitterling, Rhodeus sericeus amarus (Bloch) in the Wieprz-Krzna canal, Poland. Pol Arch Hydrobiol 43:203–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Sitko J, Faltýnková A, Scholz T (2006) Checklist of the trematodes (Digenea) of birds of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Academia, Prague

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith NF (2001) Spatial heterogeneity in recruitment of larval trematodes to snail intermediate hosts. Oecologia 127:115–122. doi:10.1007/s004420000560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sousa WP, Grosholz ED (1991) The influence of habitat structure on the transmission of parasites. In: Bell SS, McCoy ED, Muskinsky HR (eds) Habitat structure: the physical arrangement of objects in space. Chapman & Hall, London, pp 300–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Sudarikov VE, Schigin AA, Kurochkin YV, Lomakin VV, Stenko RP, Yurlova NI (2002) Metacercariae of trematodes–parasites of Russian aquatic habitats. Nauka, Moscow, p 303 (in Russian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Valtonen ET, Gibson DI (1997) Aspects of the biology of diplostomid metacercarial (Digenea) populations occurring in fishes in different localities of northern Finland. Ann Zool Fennici 34:47–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Valtonen ET, Marcogliese DJ, Julkunen M (2010) Vertebrate diets derived from trophically transmitted fish parasites in the Bothnian Bay. Oecologia 162:139–152. doi:10.1007/s00442-009-1451-5

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zander CD (1998) Ecology of host parasite relationship in the Baltic Sea. Naturwissenschaften 85:426–436

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zander CD (2005) Comparative studies on goby (Teleostei) parasite communities from the North and Baltic Sea. Parasitol Res 96:62–68. doi:10.1007/s00436-005-1327-5

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zander CD (2007) Parasite diversity of sticklebacks from the Baltic Sea. Parasitol Res 100:287–297. doi:10.1007/s00436-006-0282-0

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zander CD, Strohbach U, Groenewold S (1993) The importance of gobies (Gobiidae, Teleostei) as hosts and transmitters of parasites in the SW Baltic. Helgoländer Meeresunters 47:81–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zander CD, Reimer LW, Barz K (1999) Parasite communities of the Salzhaff (Northwest Mecklenburg, Baltic Sea). I. Structure and dynamics of communities of littoral fish, especially small-sized fish. Parasitol Res 85:356–372

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The study was supported by Grant No. KJB600930802 of the Grant Agency of the ASCR, Research Project No. 0021622416 of Masaryk University, and Ichthyoparasitology Research Centre of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic No. LC 522. The authors would like to thank the Sapanca Inland Fish Aquaculture and Research Application Station of the Fisheries Faculty of Istanbul University and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for facilities and permits necessary to conduct the study; Argyrios Sapounidis, Dimitris Lachouvaris, Dimitris Chariskos, Kateřina Francová, Eva Košková and Petra Navrátilová for assistance with field sampling and parasite collection and Matthew Nicholls for the English revision of the final version of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Martina Dávidová, Radim Blažek & Markéta Ondračková

  2. Institute of Vertebrate Biology v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Radim Blažek & Markéta Ondračková

  3. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Gagarin str. 2, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Teodora Trichkova

  4. Fisheries Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Foundation, Nea Peramos, 640 07, Kavala, Greece

    Emmanuil Koutrakis

  5. Faculty of Fisheries, Istanbul University, Ordu Cad. No 200, Laleli, 34470, Istanbul, Turkey

    Özcan Gaygusuz

  6. Faculty of Aquaculture and Fisheries Biology, University of Mugla, 48000, Kötekli, Turkey

    Ertan Ercan

Authors
  1. Martina Dávidová
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Radim Blažek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Teodora Trichkova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Emmanuil Koutrakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Özcan Gaygusuz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ertan Ercan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Markéta Ondračková
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martina Dávidová.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Thomas Mehner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dávidová, M., Blažek, R., Trichkova, T. et al. The role of the European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus, Cyprinidae) in parasite accumulation and transmission in riverine ecosystems. Aquat Ecol 45, 377–387 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-011-9361-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-011-9361-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation