Host-parasite interactions between Gadus morhua (Teleostei) and Lernaeocera branchialis (Copepoda: Pennellidae).

Sarah Barker

Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling
FRS Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen

Supervisors: Dr. James Bron, Dr. Kim Thompson (Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling), Prof. Ian Bricknell (School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine)

Lernaeocera branchialis is a common parasitic copepod infecting gadoids in the North Atlantic and North Sea. The fertilised female infects the 'definitive' gadoid host by penetrating the gill afferent artery and it undergoes extensive metamorphosis as it infiltrates the gadoid's ventral aorta or bulbus arteriosus where it feeds and is intimately exposed to the immune defences of cod. Many arthropod parasites such as ticks and salmon lice have been previously documented to produce pharmacologically active secretions aiding host invasion, parasite feeding and host immune response modulation, all resulting in improved survival of the parasite. This project therefore investigates the immunological defence mechanisms induced in the host during infection and the mechanisms by which the parasite hides from or modulates the host's immune system. The effect of infection and the secretory / excretory products of this parasite on the local / systemic immune response and blood clotting of hatchery-reared and wild cod and haddock are currently being investigated. This will hopefully shed more light on the interactions between this parasite and its commercially valuable host, as well as upon the immune response of Atlantic cod, which is still not well characterised.

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Contact:
Sarah Barker
Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA
seb1@stir.ac.uk

Lernaeocera branchialis anchored in the ventral aorta at the tip of the bulbus arteriosus of a wild haddock from the North Sea