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Pontobdella muricata infection of Raja clavata and Dasyatis pastinaca off the coast of Lesvos, Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2013

Vasileios Bakopoulos*
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Sciences, School of The Environment, University of The Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos, Greece
Vasiliki-Chrysa Ksidia
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Sciences, School of The Environment, University of The Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos, Greece
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: V. Bakopoulos, Department of Marine Sciences, School of The Environment, University of The Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos, Greece email: v.bakopoulos@marine.aegean.gr

Abstract

An investigation of ectoparasites of skates caught off the coast of Lesvos Island, north-eastern Aegean, Greece was performed from May 2010 to February 2012. One parasite, identified as the marine leech Pontobdella muricata, was found on the skin of 0.43% of Raja clavata and 3.6% of Dasyatis pastinaca specimens examined during the investigation period. This is the first record of D. pastinaca as being a host to P. muricata. Macroscopic and microscopic observation of the lesions caused by the parasitism, revealed haemorrhages and swelling of the skin of R. clavata, a milder inflammation of the skin of D. pastinaca, congestion, necrosis and liquefaction of the skin at the site of leech attachment and a lesion with disappearance of upper skin layers after the detachment of the leech.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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