Bothriocephalus acheilognathi .

Abstract

The morphology, life cycle, transmission, host species and geographical distribution of Bothriocephalus acheilognathi are presented. The importance of the disease, diagnosis, clinical signs, macroscopic and microscopic lesions (pathological changes), disease mechanism and control and prevention are also discussed.

The pathogenic Asian fish tapeworm, Bothriocephalus acheilognathi Yamaguti, 1934 (Cestoda) in the Red discus (Symphysodon discus)

“…Occasionally, cestodes with low host specifi city can enter aquariums harboured in live planktonic copepods caught from the wild used for feeding purposes (Piasecki et al, 2004). The large number of cyclopoid copepods can serve as intermediate hosts for B. acheilognathi in both cultured and natural conditions, such as Acanthocyclops, Cyclops, Macrocyclops, Megacyclops, Mesocyclops, Thermocyclops and Tropocyclops (Marcogliese & Esch, 1989;Scholz et al, 2012). Temperatures reaching 30 °C in culturing system of discus fi sh facilitate rapid development and maturity of B. acheilognathi larval stages (Pool, 1984).…”

“…Nowadays, it is worldwide distributed and parasitic in more than two hundred species from around 14 orders of freshwater fi sh (Salgado-Maldonado & Pineda-Lopez, 2003;Scholz et al, 2012). Due to its fast colonization to almost all continents and its pathogenicity, B. acheilognathi caused worldwide concern as an important pathogenic and most dangerous fi sh tapeworm, which causes bothriocephalosis of feral but especially of cultured fi sh (Scholz et al, 2012).…”

“…Nowadays, it is worldwide distributed and parasitic in more than two hundred species from around 14 orders of freshwater fi sh (Salgado-Maldonado & Pineda-Lopez, 2003;Scholz et al, 2012). Due to its fast colonization to almost all continents and its pathogenicity, B. acheilognathi caused worldwide concern as an important pathogenic and most dangerous fi sh tapeworm, which causes bothriocephalosis of feral but especially of cultured fi sh (Scholz et al, 2012). There are no records of B. acheilognathi published up to date from native fi shes of South America but only two fi ndings from introduced common carps: from Brazil, most probably as a result of the import of carp from Europe (Rego et al, 1999) and from Argentina, found in introduced wild population of Cyprinus carpio (Waicheim et al, 2014).…”

Range expansion and molecular confirmation of the Asian fish tapeworm in the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River with notes on infections in baitfish

“…The Asian fish tapeworm, Schyzocotyle acheilognathi, is an invasive parasite that originated in China but is now found on every continent in the world with the exception of Antarctica Scholz et al, 2012). Recently, this parasite, formerly known as Bothriocephalus acheilognathi, was assigned to the genus Schyzocotyle based on its relatively unique scolex shape (Brabec et al, 2015).…”

“…Recently, this parasite, formerly known as Bothriocephalus acheilognathi, was assigned to the genus Schyzocotyle based on its relatively unique scolex shape (Brabec et al, 2015). The parasite is a true generalist, infecting a wide variety of fish hosts, primarily but not confined to cyprinids, which contributes to its invasiveness (Dove and Fletcher, 2000;Choudhury and Cole, 2012;Scholz et al, 2012). Another factor enhancing its invasiveness is its relatively simple two-host life cycle (Bauer and Hoffman, 1976;Scholz et al, 2012).…”