Susceptibility, behaviour, and retention of the parasitic salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) differ with Atlantic salmon population origin

The effect of temperature on ability of Lepeophtheirus salmonis to infect and persist on Atlantic salmon

The salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) is an ecologically and economically important parasite of salmonid fish. Temperature is a strong influencer of biological processes in salmon lice, with development rate increased at higher temperatures. The successful attachment of lice onto a host is also predicted to be influenced by temperature; however, the correlation of temperature with parasite survival is unknown. This study describes the effects of temperature on infection success, and survival on the host during development to the adult stage. To accurately describe infection dynamics with varying temperatures, infection success was recorded on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) between 2 and 10°C. Infection success ranged from 20% to 50% and was strongly correlated with temperature, with the highest success at 10°C. Parasite loss was monitored during development at eight temperatures with high loss of lice at 3 and 24°C, whilst no loss was recorded in the temperature range from 6 to 21°C. Sea temperatures thus have large effects on the outcome of salmon louse infections and should be taken into account in the management and risk assessment of this parasite. Improving understanding of the infection dynamics of salmon lice will facilitate epidemiological modelling efforts and efficiency of pest management strategies.

Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss skin responses to salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis: From copepodid to adult stage

The marine crustacean Lepeophtheirus salmonis (salmon louse) is a common ectoparasite of wild and farmed salmonids. The parasite has a complex ontogeny comprising eight instars. The planktonic copepodid stage settles on host skin and pass through five instars to reach the adult stage. The present study comprises an experimental infestation of Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) with salmon lice and describes histopathology and host immune responses in skin beneath the louse at multiple time points encompassing all louse developmental stages. Each fish was exposed to 80 infective copepodids, a mean no. of 32 parasites reached the preadult I stage whereas a mean no. of 11 parasites reached the adult stage. A progression in the severity of cutaneous lesions was observed, and levels of immune gene transcripts at the attachment site revealed a dynamic response, initially related to innate immunity. Later, immune cells accumulated in the dermis concomitant with a moderate decrease in levels of transcripts characteristic of both innate and adaptive immune responses. The present study also demonstrates that the cutaneous immune response was mainly induced at lice affected sites, while non-affected skin resembled the skin of untreated control. This indicates that the skin cannot be regarded as a uniform organ and requires careful sampling at all salmon louse stages.

Where art thou louse? A snapshot of attachment location preferences in salmon lice on Atlantic salmon hosts in sea cages

Problematic sea lice infestations on farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) have motivated extensive research and development into new methods to prevent, monitor and control sea lice. Most of these technologies require detailed information on the behaviour, spatial distribution and demography of lice on host fish. This study investigated how salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infestation density varies across the host's surface under sea cage farming conditions. Lice abundance, demography and attachment location were tracked over time, with repeated sampling of 300 individually tagged salmon across three replicate experimental sea cages. The data reveal clear differences in attachment locations according to sex and stage, but with an overall preference for the dorsal surface among mobile stages-dorsal head for adult females and dorsal-posterior section for males and pre-adults. Total lice abundance was highly variable between repeated measures of individual fish, consistent with frequent host-switching or mortality. Total lice numbers also declined between sampling dates, likely due to handling, with lost mobile lice being almost exclusively adult males. As the distribution of sea lice on hosts is likely determined by numerous factors, future image-based automated detection systems should be validated in settings that reflect the complex host-parasite interactions that occur in open farming systems.

Characterization of ecto- and endoparasite communities of wild Mediterranean teleosts by a metabarcoding approach

Next-generation sequencing methods are increasingly used to identify eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular symbiont communities within hosts. In this study, we analyzed the non-specific reads obtained during a metabarcoding survey of the bacterial communities associated to three different tissues collected from 13 wild Mediterranean teleost fish species. In total, 30 eukaryotic genera were identified as putative parasites of teleosts, associated to skin mucus, gills mucus and intestine: 2 ascomycetes, 4 arthropods, 2 cnidarians, 7 nematodes, 10 platyhelminthes, 4 apicomplexans, 1 ciliate as well as one order in dinoflagellates (Syndiniales). These results highlighted that (1) the metabarcoding approach was able to uncover a large spectrum of symbiotic organisms associated to the fish species studied, (2) symbionts not yet identified in several teleost species were putatively present, (3) the parasitic diversity differed markedly across host species and (4) in most cases, the distribution of known parasitic genera within tissues is in accordance with the literature. The current work illustrates the large insights that can be gained by making maximum use of data from a metabarcoding approach.