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
Recommended Citation
O'Hear, Mary McPherson, "Intestinal digenetic trematodes found in double-crested cormorant populations in the Mississippi Delta and the potential impact of these parasites on commercial and wild fish species found in this region" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 2788.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/2788
Comments
digenetic trematode||Mississippi Delta||Phalacrocorax auritus||double-crested cormorant||digenean