Abstract
In Takvatn, a subarctic lake in northern Norway, 35 of 162 three-spined sticklebacks examined were infected with 106 specimens of third-stage larvae of Philonema oncorhynchi. The prevalence and mean intensity of P. oncorhynchi were 10 % and 2.0 in 2013 and 24 % and 3.0 in 2014, respectively. A single specimen of Cystidicola farionis was found in an additional sample. While the latter is considered an accidental infection, three-spined sticklebacks may function as paratenic hosts of P. oncorhynchi, potentially enhancing its transmission to salmonids due to their central role in the lacustrine food web of this subarctic lake.
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Funding
This work was partly funded by UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Research Council (NFR213610/F20) to P-AA and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Visiting Fellowship to PEB.
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Braicovich, P.E., Kuhn, J.A., Amundsen, PA. et al. Three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, as a possible paratenic host for salmonid nematodes in a subarctic lake. Parasitol Res 115, 1335–1338 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4854-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4854-8