Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons^™

Potential Pathological Effects Of Blood Flukes (Digenea: Sanguinicolidae) On Pen-Reared Marine Fishes, Stephen A. Bullard, Robin M. Overstreet

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Sanguinicolids, or fish blood flukes, infect the vascular system of both marine and freshwater fishes, and some act as serious pathogens of hosts in aquaculture. Blood flukes typically possess a relatively benign relationship with wild fishes; however, cultured hosts near appropriate intermediate hosts (i.e., snail, bivalve, or polychaete) may accumulate heavy infections of the worms and their eggs. The resulting disease, sanguinicoliasis, has caused mass mortalities of fish reared in ponds and cages in North America, Europe, and Asia. In the life cycle, the cercaria emerges from the intermediate invertebrate host and penetrates into and matures in the definitive fish …