Studies on the parasites of Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasi Valenciennes): survey results

Abstract

The results of a survey of the parasite fauna of Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasi Valenciennes) conducted during the years 1975 to 1977 are presented. Thirty-two species (three Myxosporida, three Protozoa, two Monogenea, nine Digenea, three Cestoidea, six Nematoda, four Acanthocephala, and two Copepoda) are reported from examination of 175 juvenile and 594 adult herring collected from the waters off California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. Among those parasites for which specific identifications could be made are five species previously unreported from the genus Clupea (metacercariae of Prosorhynchoides basargini (Layman, 1930) and Galactosomum phalacrocoracis Yamaguti, 1939; plerocercoids of Nybelinia surmenicola Okada in Dollfus, 1929; juvenile Corynosoma villosum Van Cleave, 1953; and Rhadinorhynchus trachuri Harada, 1935) and three species not previously reported from North American waters (Ortholinea orientalis (Shulman and Shulman-Albova, 1953); Gyrodactyloides petruschewskii Bykhowsky, 1947; and Gyrodactylus harengi Malmberg, 1957).