Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Implantation of a New Micro Acoustic Tag in Juvenile Pacific Lamprey and American Eel
Published on: March 16, 2019
Patterns of infracommunity species richness in eels, Anguilla anguilla
J Norton1, D Rollinson, J W Lewis
1Wolfson Wellcome Biomedical Laboratories, Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK. jern@nhm.ac.uk
Abstract:
Between October 1999 and October 2001, a total of 510 European eels Anguilla anguilla were captured in 13 different samples from the rivers Thames (five locations) and Test (one location) in southern England. The relationship between parasite component community species richness (CCR) and maximum infracommunity species richness (ICRmax) compared with that previously observed in bird and mammal hosts. Specifically, the maximum number of parasite species occurring in infracommunities equalled or exceeded half the number of parasite species in the component community at that time, across a wide range of CCR values (2-9 parasite species). Furthermore, the frequency distribution of infracommunity richness (ICR) suggested that the species composition of infracommunities is probably random. These findings suggest that intestinal macroparasite infracommunities in eels are unsaturated and potentially species rich assemblages and, in these respects, share a fundamental similarity with the infracommunities of birds and mammals.
Related Concept Videos
Keystone Species
Formation of Species
Diversity of Protists III
What is Biodiversity?
Fixed Action Patterns
Convergent Evolution

