Physiological condition of Eastern Baltic cod, Gadus morhua, infected with the parasitic nematode Contracaecum osculatum.

ABSTRACT: Establishing relationships between parasite infection and physiological condition of the host can be difficult and therefore are often neglected when describing factors causing population declines. Using the parasite-host system between the parasitic nematode Contracaecum osculatum and the Eastern Baltic cod Gadus morhua, we here shed new light on how parasite load may relate to the physiological condition of a transport host. The Eastern Baltic cod is in distress, with declining nutritional conditions, disappearance of the larger fish, high natural mortality and no signs of recovery of the population. During the latest decade, high infection levels with C. osculatum have been observed in fish in the central and southern parts of the Baltic Sea. We investigated the aer

SUBMITTER: Ryberg MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7507771 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature