ABSTRACT Infection of Schistocephalus solidus in three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus was investigated for over a two year period from Airthrey Loch, Scotland. Altogether 1301 fishes were sampled. A total of 1327 S. solidus plerocercoid worms were extracted from the visceral cavity of 385 fish. The prevalence was 29.55%, mean intensity (3.44) and abundance (1.01). Monthly prevalenc...

Fish skin serves as the first line of defense against a wide variety of chemical, physical and biological stressors. Secretion of mucus is among the most prominent characteristics of fish skin and numerous innate immune factors have been identified in the epidermal mucus. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the mucus secretion and immune activities of fish skin remain largely unclear due t...

Introduced salmonines (Oncorhynchus spp. and Salmo spp.) are important components of recreational fisheries in the Great Lakes. These fishes were stocked heavily following fishery collapse lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) due to sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) predation commercial overharvest. While salmonine introductions occurred all five Lakes, Lake Superior is less productive than lower L...

Haplorchis popelkae n. sp. is described from the intestine of the short-necked turtles Elseya dentata and Emydura victoriae in Northern Territory, Australia. This slipper-shaped heterophyid digenean differs from the 9 previously known species of Haplorchis in its larger overall size, a forebody that is wider than the hindbody, comparatively short ceca, and a ventral sucker that is less heavily ...

Scanning electron microscopical (SEM) studies on the tegument of the bovid schistosomes, Schistosoma margrebowiei and Schistosoma mattheei have yielded conflicting results; certain authors observed the tubercles on the tegument of these species to be spined, while others reported that they are spineless. The present study indicates that the protrusion of tubercular spines is subject to phenotyp...

Reproductive maturation in both male and female three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus was strongly photoperiodic in a northern population (Alaska, 61 degrees N) but not in a southern population (Oregon, 43 degrees N) from western North America. Increasing reliance on photoperiod with increasing latitude is a general phenomenon among vertebrates, and is probably due to the anticipation...