Histological study on the effect of Ascocotyle (digenea: heterophyidae) infection on the heart morphology of the fish host. (South Carolina Academy of Sciences Abstracts).(Brief Article)

Ascocotyle is a parasitic intestinal fluke of fish-eating birds and mammals. The juveniles exist as metacercarial cysts in various organs of the fish hosts. In the mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) the metacercariae are located in the bulbus arteriosus of the heart. A total of 40 mummichogs from three localities in the Massachusetts area and nine fish from Georgetown, South Carolina were examined for the presence of metacercariae. All fish from New Bedford Harbor were infected (mean intensity = 168; n = 25). Four out of five fish from West Island were infected (mean intensity = 2), and only one out often fish collected from Slocums River Basin was infected (intensity = 1). None …