European eelsAnguilla anguillafrom the rivers Thames and Test, in the south of England, were examined between 2000 and 2003 for infection with the swim-bladder nematodeAnguillicola crassus. Since its introduction to Thames eels at tidal estuarine locations circa 1987,A. crassushas become established in non-tidal freshwater stretches upriver and data from these locations are reported for the first time. The prevalence of infection at Thames estuary locations was higher during 2000–2003 than for the period 1987–1992. By 2003, similar prevalences were observed at freshwater and estuarine locations, but infection intensities were significantly higher in freshwater. Eels from the river Test appear to have been recently colonized byA. crassus(circa 2000). Parasite population establishment within these eels was uncharacteristically slow during 2000–2001, with low prevalence and intensity of infection, and few gravid females during this period. By 2003, infection levels in Test eels were similar to those in Thames eels. The expansion of theA. crassuspopulation in Test eels has occurred in the absence of the paratenic host ruffeGymnocephalus cernuus, and at suboptimal pH for the survival and infectivity of free-living larvae. The epidemiology ofA. crassusin Test eels demonstrates that transmission ofA. crassusby ruffe is not required for high prevalence and intensity of infection in eels. However, the consistently low and atypical levels of infection in Test eels during 2000 and 2001 suggests that paratenic transmission by ruffe may provide a substantial contribution to the dynamics ofA. crassusin eels in the early years following introduction, by facilitating the rapid increase in prevalence and intensity ofA. crassusinfection that typically occurs during this time.
Malformations of the gill filaments of the ruffe Gymnocephalus cernuus
(L.) (Pisces) caused by echinostomatid metacercariae
