Studies on the host specificity of the eyefluke, Diplostomum spathaceum, in brown and rainbow trout

Abstract

Trout collected from the Hanningfield Trout Farm in Essex, England, were found to be infected with Diplostomum spathaceum. Yearling rainbow trout were blinded with heavy infections of eyefluke, whereas brown trout of the same age carried one-tenth the number of flukes and were clear eyed. Both species were reared under identical conditions, in parallel rearing channels which received water from a common source. Samples showed that young fish exhibited a similar differential in their infestations, and that rainbow trout did not appear to be age-resistant. Laboratory infections produced by exposure of fish to suspensions of cercariae and injection of cercariae into the body cavity reflected the field results, indicating that ecological factors were not involved. Recovery of cercariae from host tissues, and histological observations of similar numbers entering both hosts, indicated that cercariae were able to survive penetration. Excised eye preparations were equally susceptible to infection. Two cm fry of both species were shown to be highly susceptible. Migration in brown trout took 3 h longer than in rainbow trout of the same size, many cercariae being found in the heart during this time. Two mechanisms of insusceptibility were suggested: (1) a greater impenetrability of brown trout tissues; (2) a disorientation of migrating cercariae in brown trout.