TY - JOUR

T1 - Lecithaster (Lecithasteridae, Digenea) in the White Sea: an unnoticed guest from the Pacific?

AU - Krupenko, D.

AU - Kremnev, G.

AU - Skobkina, O.

AU - Gonchar, A.

AU - Uryadova, A.

AU - Miroliubov, A.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press.

PY - 2022/6/21

Y1 - 2022/6/21

N2 - Morphological discrimination of species is problematic in many digenean taxa. Parasites of marine fish from the genus Lecithaster Lühe, 1901 are a good example of this. Our goal was to understand which species of Lecithaster infect fish in the White Sea, and reveal their life cycles. We collected specimens of maritae from nine fish species, analysed their morphology and sequenced 28S ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2). Contrary to previous accounts, all of them belong to a single species, Lecithaster salmonis Yamaguti, 1934, which was previously only recorded from the Pacific. Morphologically, our maritae specimens were highly variable, sharing characters of L. salmonis, Lecithaster confusus Odhner, 1905 and Lecithaster gibbosus (Rudolphi, 1802) Lühe, 1901. This variability did not correlate with the moderate differences in ITS2 among the specimens, and neither did the fish host species. Members of the subfamily Salmoninae appear to be the best suited definitive hosts, judging from the intensity rates. The intermediate hosts were also discovered: the first is Cryptonatica affinis (Gmelin, 1791) and the second are planktonic copepods. These lifecycle data from the White Sea are consistent with L. salmonis species identification and with the distribution of this species in the North Pacific. The geographical range of L. salmonis seems to be interrupted, and we discuss possible ways of L. salmonis expansion.

AB - Morphological discrimination of species is problematic in many digenean taxa. Parasites of marine fish from the genus Lecithaster Lühe, 1901 are a good example of this. Our goal was to understand which species of Lecithaster infect fish in the White Sea, and reveal their life cycles. We collected specimens of maritae from nine fish species, analysed their morphology and sequenced 28S ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2). Contrary to previous accounts, all of them belong to a single species, Lecithaster salmonis Yamaguti, 1934, which was previously only recorded from the Pacific. Morphologically, our maritae specimens were highly variable, sharing characters of L. salmonis, Lecithaster confusus Odhner, 1905 and Lecithaster gibbosus (Rudolphi, 1802) Lühe, 1901. This variability did not correlate with the moderate differences in ITS2 among the specimens, and neither did the fish host species. Members of the subfamily Salmoninae appear to be the best suited definitive hosts, judging from the intensity rates. The intermediate hosts were also discovered: the first is Cryptonatica affinis (Gmelin, 1791) and the second are planktonic copepods. These lifecycle data from the White Sea are consistent with L. salmonis species identification and with the distribution of this species in the North Pacific. The geographical range of L. salmonis seems to be interrupted, and we discuss possible ways of L. salmonis expansion.

KW - Digenea

KW - Hemiuroidea

KW - Lecithasteridae

KW - fish parasites

KW - life cycles

KW - morphological variability

KW - 28S

KW - ITS2

KW - cercariae

KW - White Sea

KW - Digenea

KW - Hemiuroidea

KW - Lecithasteridae

KW - fish parasites

KW - life cycles

KW - morphological variability

KW - 28S

KW - ITS2

KW - cercariae

KW - white Sea

KW - White Sea

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132251099&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0022149X22000281

DO - 10.1017/S0022149X22000281

M3 - Article

VL - 96

SP - e43

JO - Journal of Helminthology

JF - Journal of Helminthology

SN - 0022-149X

M1 - e43

ER -