The occurrence of Mytilicola intestinalis Steuer, an intestinal copepod parasite of Mytilus, in the south-west of England

Abstract

The occurrence of Mytilicola intestinalis in populations of mussels in south-west England is recorded and compared with previous data. Since 1955 there have been two main changes in the distribution of Mytilicola: (a) it has invaded all the major estuarine mussel populations on the Bristol Channel coast, and (b) many previously uninfested open-coast populations all round the peninsula are now lightly infested. It is suggested that differences in infestation levels between estuarine and open-coast populations of mussels are due primarily to differences in the degree of exposure to wave action although factors such as size, population density and location of the hosts also influence infestation. The chance of the establishment of breeding pairs of Mytilicola depends on the parasite population size and its distribution through the host population.

Metazoan parasite species in cultured mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis in the Thermaikos Gulf (North Aegean Sea, Greece)

“…Our study also indicated that larger mussels were more often infested than smaller ones and that bottom-rope mussels were more infested than those near the surface. These findings agree with those of Hockley (1951), Hrs-Brenko (1967) and Davey & Gee (1976), who suggested that the negative phototropism displayed by M. intestinalis larvae is responsible for their strong invasion of mussels from the bottom part of the rope and the weaker invasion of mussels attached to buoys, and that larger hosts attract more parasites than smaller individuals because of the higher filtration rate of the former. The significantly higher prevalence of M. intestinalis in the polluted Stns 2 in the present study agrees with data from Caspers (1939), who suggested that this parasite might be indicative of polluted water.…”

Mytilicola Intestinalis (Copepoda: Cyclopoida): A Ten Year Survey of Infested Mussels in a Cornish Estuary, 1978–1988

“…Winter (1973) showed that larger mussels filter larger volumes of water and several authors have suggested that this would lead to enhanced exposure to infestation (Williams, 1969;Dethlefsen, 1972;Davey & Gee, 1976). In a typical host/parasite relationship such correlations may exist because parasites are accumulated with age or because larger animals can tolerate heavier parasite burdens.…”

“…After describing the copepod's geographical distribution in the south west of England (Davey & Gee, 1976) and its annual population cycle in one particularly heavily infested mussel bed , they sought the co-operation of physiologists, cell biologists and statisticians in a programme of research to define fully the relationship between Mytilicola and Mytilus. After describing the copepod's geographical distribution in the south west of England (Davey & Gee, 1976) and its annual population cycle in one particularly heavily infested mussel bed , they sought the co-operation of physiologists, cell biologists and statisticians in a programme of research to define fully the relationship between Mytilicola and Mytilus.…”

How invasive oysters can affect parasite infection patterns in native mussels on a large spatial scale

“…This was surprising, as an inverse relationship between the degree of exposure and infection rates has previously been found for M. intestinalis in mussels, which was attributed to the shorter submersion time of hosts in the water, limiting the time window of free-swimming infective copepodid larvae to locate and infect their host (Bolster 1954;Davey and Gee 1976). On the reasons behind the positive effect of exposure time on M. orientalis infection levels in oysters we can only speculate.…”