Parasites of the invasive Chinese sleeper Percсottus glenii (Actinopterygii: Odontobutidae) in the region of the first introduction of the Carpathian population

Abstract

Parasites of the invasive Chinese sleeper (Perccottus glenii) were studied in five different localities at the site of the first introduction of the Carpathian population of this fish. We recorded eight taxa of parasites in Lviv water bodies. The monogenean Gyrodactylus perccotti and the cestode Nippoteania perccotti were recorded in all five lakes studied. These parasites represent Far East species introduced together with their host. Also the copepod Neoergasilus japonicus is a Far East parasite introduced to Europe with its aquaculture vector. Differences between the surveyed bodies of water were mainly related to their local seasonal conditions and watershed characteristics. The current data confirm the presence of co-introduced populations of G. perccotti and N. perccotti, which probably affects the future invasiveness of their host. Due to low acquisition of local parasites, we cannot confirm any significant effect of invasive fish on local parasite assemblages in this region. However, the presence of the non-indigenous copepod, N. japonicus, requires additional attention in the future.

First data on parasites of the invasive brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) in Ukraine

“…The Lake on Plastova is a small artificial pond that lies by the River Poltva (Vistula river basin) in the industrial part of Lviv with high disturbance factor and risk of organic pollution (municipal composting station), which potentially explains such a low parasite species richness. On the other hand, the parasite community of another invasive fish in this same pond, the Chinese sleeper ( Perccottus glenii ), was similar, or even higher, to that found at other localities in Ukraine ( Kvach et al ., 2022 ). Thus, the low infection parameters for brown bullhead at this site may be the result of some other factor, such as the young age of the fish population.…”

“…The Lake on Stryiska (Dniester river basin) is located in Lviv, which lies within both the Black Sea (Dniester river watershed) and Baltic Sea (Vistula river watershed) river basins ( Koinova & Chorna, 2019 ). Thus, the presence of bullhead at sites inside Lviv is most likely the result of translocation due to human activity ( Kutsokon et al ., 2018 ), while differences in fish parasite fauna in lakes inside Lviv most likely reflect temporary local conditions than any difference in river drainage ( Kvach et al ., 2022 ). This is also reflected in the brown bullhead’s parasite fauna, which was similar across the entire western Ukrainian region.…”

Parasitic Helminths and Freshwater Fish Introduction in Europe: A Systematic Review of Dynamic Interactions

“…One Cestoda, and N. perccotti, and one Monogenea, G. perccotti were introduced along with their host, and were recovered in Europe only from their host, e.g., [40,74]. As N. perccotti and G. perccotti are stenoxenous, the only impact they may have on native fish species is to give them a competitive advantage over the invasive P. glenii, especially since their abundance was qualified as relatively high in some invaded areas [75,76].…”

“…Ophiotaenia europea, recorded from Germany, Ukraine and Russia, is of particular interest as it shows the possibility of establishing parasitological links between non-native fish and native reptiles, as it is transmitted to freshwater snakes Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768) and Natrix natrix (Linnaeus, 1758) through fish consumption [35,[166][167][168][169]. This scenario does not only affect wild fauna, but can also have a notable impact on pets, e.g., M. xanthosomus was found several times in the introduced P. glenii [74,75,166,169] and in N. fluviatilis [133] and is of veterinary importance as it is known to infect dogs [170].…”