Issue 3, Spring 2006
Impacts of temperature on emergence of trematode cercariae from the mud snail Ilyanassa obsoleta
Kristine Degel and Dean G. McCurdy
We assessed prevalence of trematode parasites and impacts of temperature on shedding of parasites infecting mud snails, Ilyanassa obsoleta (Say), collected from Maine. Six species of trematodes were found to infect mud snails: Austrobilharzia variglandis, Zoögonus rubellus, Stephanostomum tenue, Gynaecotyla adunca, Himasthla quissetensis, and Lepocreadium setiferoides. As predicted, snails were more likely to shed cercarial forms of six species of trematodes when experimentally exposed to elevated water temperatures for single 24-hour periods. We argue that even small-scale changes in temperature might have implications for individuals and populations of marine animals that serve as second-intermediate hosts and final hosts of trematodes shed by infected mud snails (e.g., clams, baitworms, birds, fish, humans). We also establish new northern limits for several species of marine trematodes.
Keywords: Ilyanassa obsoleta, parasitism, cercarial shedding, temperature, Gulf of Maine
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