Metazoan parasite infection in the swordfish,Xiphias gladius, from the Mediterranean Sea and comparison with Atlantic populations: implications for its stock characterization

Abstract

Thirteen parasite taxa were identified in the Mediterranean swordfish by morphological and genetic/molecular methods. The comparison of the identified parasite taxa and parasitic infection values observed in the Mediterranean swordfish showed statistically significant differences with respect to those reported for its Atlantic populations. A stepwise Linear Discriminant Analysis of the individual fish examined showed a separation among three groups: one including fish from the Mediterranean Sea (CTS, STS, and IOS); one consisting of fish from the Central South (CS), Eastern Tropical (ET), and Equatorial (TEQ) Atlantic; and a third comprising the fish sampled from the North-West Atlantic (NW); the CN Atlantic sample was more similar to the first group rather than to the other Atlantic ones. The nematodes Hysterothylacium petteri and Anisakis pegreffii were the species that contributed most to the characterization of the Mediterranean swordfish samples with respect to these Atlantic ones. Anisakis brevispiculata, A. physeteris, A. paggiae, Anisakis sp. 2, Hysterothylacium incurvum, Hepatoxylon trichiuri, Sphyriocephalus viridis, and their high infection levels were associated with the swordfish from the Central and the Southern Atlantic areas. Finally, H. corrugatum, A. simplex (s.s.), Rhadinorhynchus pristis, and Bolbosoma vasculosum were related to the fish from the North-West (NW) Atlantic area. These results indicate that some parasites, particularly Anisakis spp. larvae identified by genetic markers, could be used as “biological tags” and support the existence of a Mediterranean swordfish stock.

Integrating Anisakis spp. parasites data and host genetic structure in the frame of a holistic approach for stock identification of selected Mediterranean Sea fish species

“…This was, for instance, the case with the larval Anisakis spp. identified in samples of M. merluccius (Mattiucci et al 2004), Trachurus trachurus (Mattiucci et al 2008) and X. gladius (Mattiucci et al 2014 b ). In addition, among the other molecular markers used for Anisakis detection (Mattiucci et al 2014 a ), the high substitution rate of the mtDNA cox 2 sequences found so far in Anisakis spp.…”

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Fig. 3. The case study of stock assessment of a large pelagic fish species, the swordfish Xiphias gladius from the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, as inferred from biological data, biomarkers (parasites) and the genetic datasets (allozymes) of the same fish populations (data from Garcia et al 2011; Mattiucci et al 2014 b ). (A) Relative proportions of the Anisakis spp.

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Morphological and genetic characterization of Hysterothylacium Ward & Magath, 1917 (Nematoda: Raphidascarididae) larvae in horse mackerel, blue whiting and anchovy from Spanish Atlantic and Mediterranean waters

“…Ascaridoid nematodes, including species of Anisakidae, can be pathogenic for humans when consumed in raw fish and can cause massive economic losses for commercial fisheries (Chai, Murrell, & Lymbery, ). Species of Hysterothylacium of the family Rhapidascarididae are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of fish‐parasitizing marine ascaridoids, with a worldwide marine distribution encompassing the North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Pacific Ocean, and Australian, Chinese and South American marine waters (Bruce, Adlard, & Cannon, ; Klapper, Kochmann, O'Hara, Karl, & Kuhn, ; Li, Gibson, & Zhang, ; Mattiucci et al., ; Pekmezci, Yardimci, Onuk, & Umur, ; Shamsi, Gasser, & Beveridge, ; Torres & Soto, ; Zuo et al., ). They are frequently found in edible fish in Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic waters, including sardine, blue whiting, anchovy and horse mackerel (MacKenzie et al., ; Madrid, Galán‐Puchades, & Fuentes, ; Rello, Adroher, Benítez, & Valero, ; Rello, Adroher, & Valero, ).…”

“…Hysterothylacium constitutes a large number of described species, approximately 70, which have been recorded in marine fishes worldwide (Li, Gibson et al., ; MacKenzie et al., ; Pekmezci et al., ; Shamsi et al., ). In Mediterranean and North‐East Atlantic waters, H. aduncum (Rudolphi, 1802) is the most frequently reported species in many teleost fishes, but other species such as H. fabri (Rudolphi, 1819) Deardorff & Overstreet, 1980; H. corrugatum Deardorff & Overstreet, ; H. incurvum (Rudolphi, 1819) Deardorff & Overstreet, 1980; and H. petteri Sheenko, 1991 have also been recorded (Amor, Farjallah, Merella, Said, & Slimane, ; MacKenzie et al., ; Mattiucci et al., ; Ternengo, Levron, Mouillot, & Marchand, ). Up to 17 Hysterothylacium larval morphotypes have been described, based mainly on the anterior digestive tract and the caudal end of larvae, the first description in Australian marine waters being by Cannon ().…”

“…In Mediterranean and North-East Atlantic waters, H. aduncum (Rudolphi, 1802) is the most frequently reported species in many teleost fishes, but other species such as H. fabri (Rudolphi, 1819) Deardorff & Overstreet, 1980; H. corrugatum Deardorff & Overstreet, 1981;H. incurvum (Rudolphi, 1819) Deardorff & Overstreet, 1980;and H. petteri Sheenko, 1991 have also been recorded (Amor, Farjallah, Merella, Said, & Slimane, 2011;MacKenzie et al, 2008;Mattiucci et al, 2014;Ternengo, Levron, Mouillot, & Marchand, 2009). Up to 17…”