Comparison of parasite fauna of juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from southern British Columbian and Washington State lakes

Abstract

Sixteen species and juveniles of four taxa of parasites (Myxosporea, 4; Monogenea, 1; Trematoda, 5; Cestoda, 4; Nematoda, 2; Acanthocephala, 2; Copepoda, 2) were encountered in 1550 sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) smolts and presmolts examined from 15 Fraser River lakes, Nimpkish Lake on Vancouver Island, and Lake Washington, Washington State, U.S.A. The most common taxa were Diphyllobothrium sp. (spp.?) plerocercoids, Philonema agubernaculum, Eubothrium sp., and Proteocephalus sp. Various statistical techniques (K - nearest neighbour and cluster analyses based on Jaccard and percent dissimilarity matrices) were used to compare the parasite fauna in sockeye from the different lakes. K - nearest neighbour analysis demonstrated that considerable overlap existed among many of the studied lakes, whereas little overlap occurred among other lakes. Cluster analyses revealed similar faunas among some lakes within biogeoclimatic zones and lakes of similar trophic status. Cluster analyses also revealed parasites that tended to co-occur. Parasites with similar modes of transmission or geographic range tended to cluster together.