Baud, A. and Cuoc, C. and Grey, Jonathan and Chappaz, Rémi and Alekseeva, Veronika (2004) Seasonal variability in the gut ultrastructure of the parasitic copepod Neoergasilus japonicus (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82 (10). pp. 1655-1666. ISSN 0008-4301
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The gut structure and ultrastructure of Neoergasilus japonicus (Harada, 1930), a copepod from the family Ergasilidae (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida) and a parasite of fish, were compared at different periods of the life cycle: in free-living specimens in October and after attaching to fish in January and June. Differences in the depth of the intestinal epithelium were prominent and other cellular characteristics appeared seasonally variable. We relate these to changes in the physiological activity. Preliminary data from stable-isotope analyses of attached specimens suggest nutritional contribution from parasitism. The possibility of a diapause in the life cycle, as well as the relationship between the morphology of the gut and early evolutionary parasitism of N. japonicus, are discussed.