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Anisakidae (Anisakis simplex, Pseudoterranova decipiens, Hysterothylacium, etc.)

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Encyclopedia of Parasitology

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Synonyms

Herring worm; Whale worm

General Information

Highly abundant genus of ascaridoid roundworms (Nematodes; Figs. 1–3, pp. 87, 88) of the family Anisakidae. The parasites are associated with aquatic organisms and can be found in a variety of marine hosts including whales, crustaceans, fish, and cephalopods.

Life Cycle

The general life cycle (Anisakidae) of these parasites involves broad range invertebrates such as crustaceans and chaetognaths, teleost fish species, and cephalopods, which act as intermediate and/or paratenic hosts. Marine mammals (toothed and baleen whales, sometimes seals) serve as definitive hosts. Toothed and baleen whales of the families Delphinidae, Ziphiidae, Physeteridae, and Kogiidae are considered the main definitive hosts, but members of Balaenopteridae, Pontoporiidae, Monodontidae, Phocoenidae, and Neobalaenidae have also been documented. Adult Anisakislive in the alimentary tract of their definitive hosts where they reproduce. The eggs are dispersed...

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Further Reading

  • Klimpel S, Busch MW, Kuhn T, Rohde A, Palm HW (2010) The Anisakis simplex complex off the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica): endemic populations versus introduction through migratory hosts. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 403:1–11

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn T, García-Màrquez J, Klimpel S (2011) Adaptive radiation within marine anisakid nematodes: a zoogeographical modeling of cosmopolitan, zoonotic parasites. PLoS One 6:e28642

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mattiucci S, Nascetti G (2008) Advances and trends in the molecular systematics of anisakid nematodes, with implications for their evolutionary ecology and host-parasite co-evolutionary processes. Adv Parasitol 66:47–148

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity; Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F); Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN), Goethe-University (GU), Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60439, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Kuhn, Julian Münster & Sven Klimpel

Authors
  1. Thomas Kuhn
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  2. Julian Münster
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  3. Sven Klimpel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Kuhn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoomorphology and Parasitology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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Kuhn, T., Münster, J., Klimpel, S. (2015). Anisakidae (Anisakis simplex, Pseudoterranova decipiens, Hysterothylacium, etc.). In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_3505-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_3505-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27769-6

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