Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Pote, Linda

Committee Member

Huston, Carla

Committee Member

Khoo, Lester

Date of Degree

8-6-2011

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Veterinary Medical Science

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Veterinary Medicine

Department

Veterinary Medical Science Program

Abstract

Double-crested cormorants have steadily increased in the Mississippi Delta. This bird serves as a definitive host for digenetic trematodes, many of which infect fish. To identify these digeneans in cormorants and determine the impact these infections have on wild fish in the Mississippi Delta, two surveys were done. Cormorants were collected for two years in the Mississippi Delta. At necropsy trematodes were collected and identified morphologically and molecularly as: Austrodiplostomum ostrowskiae, Hysteromorpha triloba, Drepanocephalus spathans, Ascocotyle longa and Pseudopsilostoma varium. Additionally, 14 fish species were collected from a Mississippi Delta lake. Fish were examined for parasites and Posthodiplostomum minimum metacercariae were found in multiple organs in 6/14 fish species. The 18S gene sequences of these metacercariae were identical to published P. minimum sequences, whereas the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences matched published COI sequences for Posthodiplostomum sp. 3, 5 and 8, suggesting subspecies of Posthodiplostomum in this fish population.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15453

Comments

digenetic trematode||Mississippi Delta||Phalacrocorax auritus||double-crested cormorant||digenean

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