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Updated: Mar 29, 2026
Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton
Published on: May 7, 2016
Three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, as a possible paratenic host for salmonid nematodes in a subarctic
Paola E Braicovich1, Jesper A Kuhn2, Per-Arne Amundsen2
1Laboratorio de Ictioparasitología, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Funes 3350, 7600, Mar del Plata, Argentina. braicovi@mdp.edu.ar.
Abstract:
In Takvatn, a subarctic lake in northern Norway, 35 of 162 three-spined sticklebacks examined were infected with 106 specimens of third-stage larvae of Philonema oncorhynchi. The prevalence and mean intensity of P. oncorhynchi were 10 % and 2.0 in 2013 and 24 % and 3.0 in 2014, respectively. A single specimen of Cystidicola farionis was found in an additional sample. While the latter is considered an accidental infection, three-spined sticklebacks may function as paratenic hosts of P. oncorhynchi, potentially enhancing its transmission to salmonids due to their central role in the lacustrine food web of this subarctic lake.
