Canadian freshwater
fish and their metazoan parasites (multiple sources)
General information
Data on host
use by parasites were obtained from 7 Canadian freshwater systems,
either large lakes or rivers, in which most fish species have been
surveyed for parasites. Only fish species for which at least 5 individuals
have been examined per locality are included, because estimates
of parasite infection level were inaccurate for smaller samples.
All species of internal and external metazoan parasites were considered,
which include the following groups: nematodes, acanthocephalans,
cestodes, trematodes, monogeneans, leeches, copepods and branchiurans.
When a species of internal worm occurred among sampled fish as both
larval and adult forms, the two forms were treated as functionally
distinct species; this convention is justified because larval and
adult worms often have different modes of transmission, infect different
fish species, and different organs within fish.
Data
type
Two types of
data given for most datasets: prevalence, which describes the proportion
of host individuals harboring a particular parasite species; and
intensity of infection, which describes the average parasite load
(number of individual parasites) per host individual. Prevalence
and intensity data are presented as two separate interaction matrices.
In addition, all datasets include information on the host sample
size (number of host individuals examined for parasites) and one
(Cold Lake) also included an independent estimate of host abundance.
Sources
Arai, H. P.,
and D. R. Mudry. 1983. Protozoan and metazoan parasites of fishes
from the headwaters of the Parsnip and McGregor Rivers, British
Columbia: a study of possible parasite transfaunations. Canadian
Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 40:1676-1684.
Arthur, J.
R., L. Margolis, and H. P. Arai. 1976. Parasites of fishes of Aishihik
and Stevens Lakes, Yukon Territory, and potential consequences of
their interlake transfer through a proposed water diversion for
hydroelectrical purposes. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board
of Canada 33:2489-2499.
Bangham, R.
V. 1955. Studies on fish parasites of Lake Huron and Manitoulin
Island. American Midland Naturalist 53:184-194.
Chinniah,
V. C., and W. Threlfall. 1978. Metazoan parasites of fish from the
Smallwood Reservoir, Labrador, Canada. Journal of Fish Biology 13:203-213.
Dechtiar,
A. O. 1972. Parasites of fish from Lake of the Woods, Ontario. Journal
of Fisheries Research Board of Canada 29:275-283.
Leong, T.
S., and J. C. Holmes. 1981. Communities of metazoan parasites in
open water fishes of Cold Lake, Alberta. Journal of Fish Biology
18:693-713.
Data
files
Text format
(no species names): Aishihik Lake: prevalence,
intensity,
host
sample size; Cold Lake: prevalence,
intensity,
host
sample size, host
abundance; Lake of the Woods: prevalence,
host
sample size; McGregor River: prevalence,
intensity,
host
sample size; Parsnip River: prevalence,
intensity,
host
sample size; Lake Huron: prevalence,
host
sample size; Smallwodd Reservoir: prevalence,
intensity,
host
sample size; or download WinZip file with all
datasets.
Excel format
(includes species lists): all data for Aishihik
Lake, Cold
Lake, Lake
of the Woods, McGregor
River, Parsnip
River, Lake
Huron and Smallwodd
Reservoir, or download WinZip file with all
datasets.
