Diversity of Digenea, Parasites of Fishes
in Various Areas of the Antarctic
Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki
W. Stefanski Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda
51155,00-818 Warszawa, Poland
A critical list of the Antarctic fish Digenea recently published [1]
concerns 36 species. However, a genuine occurrence of one species,
Lecithocladium falklandicum, in the Antarctic is doubtful. A validity of
another one, Gonocerca lobata, is questionable. These two species are
omitted from the present review. On the other hand, new material collected
in the Weddell Sea has recently been reported by the present author and a
further ten undescribed species were recognized. Their descriptions have
been recently published or are in press [2-7]. Thus 44 species are taken
into account. This is not a final number of digeneans occurring in fish in
the Antarctic, as strongly contracted and/or damaged undeterminable (even
to generic level) specimens of not less than two further species are in the
present author's collection. The presence of further undescribed species is
very possible, as only limited data are available for parasites of Antarctic
fishes of such important families as Liparididae, Zoarcidae,
Murenolepididae and Macrouridae, as well as some Notothenioidei like
Artedidraconidae and Bathydraconidae occurring in deep waters. It should
be noted that only one species, Lecithochirium whitei, is known as a
parasite specific to a bathypelagic fish, Bathylagus antarcticus. All others
normally occur in benthic and bentho-pelagic fishes; only a few species
and specimens have been reported also from pelagic fishes.
Data from five areas within the Antarctic Region - the Ross Sea (R), the
Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (I), the Weddell Sea (W), the South
Shetland Islands area (SS) and the South Georgia area (G), as well as from
the SubAntarctic (SA) are taken into account. A few species are known as
cosmopolitan or bipolar (C). These abbreviations are used in Tables 1-4.
Limited data from areas of the South Orkney Islands and the western
side of the Antarctic Peninsula are restricted to species occurring in the
South Shetland Islands area and are not separately given. Fish
classification given by Gon and Heemstra [8] is used.
Representatives of all the higher digenean taxa occurring in Antarctic
fishes are common in the whole W orId Ocean.
G. di Prisco, E. Pisano, A. Clarke (Eds)
Fishes of Antarctica. A biological overview
© Springer-Verlag Italia 1998
in Various Areas of the Antarctic
Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki
W. Stefanski Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda
51155,00-818 Warszawa, Poland
A critical list of the Antarctic fish Digenea recently published [1]
concerns 36 species. However, a genuine occurrence of one species,
Lecithocladium falklandicum, in the Antarctic is doubtful. A validity of
another one, Gonocerca lobata, is questionable. These two species are
omitted from the present review. On the other hand, new material collected
in the Weddell Sea has recently been reported by the present author and a
further ten undescribed species were recognized. Their descriptions have
been recently published or are in press [2-7]. Thus 44 species are taken
into account. This is not a final number of digeneans occurring in fish in
the Antarctic, as strongly contracted and/or damaged undeterminable (even
to generic level) specimens of not less than two further species are in the
present author's collection. The presence of further undescribed species is
very possible, as only limited data are available for parasites of Antarctic
fishes of such important families as Liparididae, Zoarcidae,
Murenolepididae and Macrouridae, as well as some Notothenioidei like
Artedidraconidae and Bathydraconidae occurring in deep waters. It should
be noted that only one species, Lecithochirium whitei, is known as a
parasite specific to a bathypelagic fish, Bathylagus antarcticus. All others
normally occur in benthic and bentho-pelagic fishes; only a few species
and specimens have been reported also from pelagic fishes.
Data from five areas within the Antarctic Region - the Ross Sea (R), the
Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (I), the Weddell Sea (W), the South
Shetland Islands area (SS) and the South Georgia area (G), as well as from
the SubAntarctic (SA) are taken into account. A few species are known as
cosmopolitan or bipolar (C). These abbreviations are used in Tables 1-4.
Limited data from areas of the South Orkney Islands and the western
side of the Antarctic Peninsula are restricted to species occurring in the
South Shetland Islands area and are not separately given. Fish
classification given by Gon and Heemstra [8] is used.
Representatives of all the higher digenean taxa occurring in Antarctic
fishes are common in the whole W orId Ocean.
G. di Prisco, E. Pisano, A. Clarke (Eds)
Fishes of Antarctica. A biological overview
© Springer-Verlag Italia 1998