Host-parasite interactions in perpetual darkness: Macroparasite diversity in the cavefish Astyanax mexicanus.

ABSTRACT: Astyanax mexicanus has repeatedly colonized cave environments, displaying evolutionary parallelisms in many troglobitic traits. Despite being a model system for the study of adaptation to life in perpetual darkness, the parasites that infect cavefish are practically unknown. In this study, we investigated the macroparasite communities in 18 cavefish populations from independent lineages and compared them with the parasite diversity found in their sister surface fish populations, with the aim of better understanding the role that parasites play in the colonization of new environments. Within the cavefish populations, we identified 13 parasite taxa, including a subset of 10 of the 27 parasite taxa known for the surface populations. Parasites infecting the cavefish belong to five taxon

SUBMITTER: Santacruz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10415763 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature