The Comparative Biology of Parasite Species Diversity: Internal Helminths of Freshwater Fish

Abstract

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Parasite biodiversity and its determinants in coastal marine teleost fishes of Brazil

“…Yet, the results currently available are inconsistent (Poulin, 1997 ;Morand, 2000). In fish, for instance, some comparative studies have found that host body size is a good predictor of parasite species richness (Price & Clancy, 1983 ;Bell & Burt, 1991 ;Poulin, 1995 ;Gregory, Keymer & Harvey, 1996 ;Sasal, Morand & Guégan, 1997) whereas others have found no effect of host size (e.g., Morand et al 2000, though this study focused on a single fish family). The same is true for a range of other host features (see Poulin, 1997 ;Morand, 2000).…”

“…First, many earlier studies of the diversity of fish parasites have used data from fish species that do not occur in the same geographical areas (e.g., Bell & Burt, 1991 ;Aho & Bush, 1993 ;Poulin, 1995 ;Rohde, Hayward & Heap, 1995 ;Gregory et al 1996). While relationships between parasite diversity and host features may still be detected in such studies, they are confounded by the fact that the different fish species come from different areas and are therefore not exposed to the same pool of parasite species.…”

Parasite Community of Cichla kelberi (Perciformes, Cichlidae) in the Três Marias Reservoir, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…In this case, C. kelberi can also be a paratenic host. According to Bell and Burt (1991), piscivorous fish host more species of endoparasites than non-piscivorous fish; this occurs because of the fact that when piscivorous fish feed on forage fish (smaller), they acquire possible helminth larvae that are present in the food.…”

Structure of the parasite infracommunity of Sciades proops from the Japaratuba River Estuary, Sergipe, Brazil

“…The feeding habits of hosts are among the most influential factors in the formation of the parasitic fauna (Bell and Burt, 1991). Piscivorous species tend to harbor more species of parasites because they feed on other already infected fish, and other animals that serve as intermediate hosts of various parasitic groups (Reid, 1983).…”