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Parasites of the invasive Chinese sleeper (Perccottus glenii) were studied in five different localities at the site of the first introduction of the Carpathian population of this fish. We recorded eight taxa of parasites in Lviv water bodies. The monogenean Gyrodactylus perccotti and the cestode Nippoteania perccotti were recorded in all five lakes studied. These parasites represent Far East species introduced together with their host. Also the copepod Neoergasilus japonicus is a Far East parasite introduced to Europe with its aquaculture vector. Differences between the surveyed bodies of water were mainly related to their local seasonal conditions and watershed characteristics. The current data confirm the presence of co-introduced populations of G. perccotti and N. perccotti, which probably affects the future invasiveness of their host. Due to low acquisition of local parasites, we cannot confirm any significant effect of invasive fish on local parasite assemblages in this region. However, the presence of the non-indigenous copepod, N. japonicus, requires additional attention in the future.

Simple Summary: The impacts of pollutants on the aquatic environment have become an increasingly important subject of study over the past few decades. Pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, can have direct and/or indirect effects on biota, affecting individual trophic levels in the food chain, the composition of populations, or even the degree of parasitism, a secondary stressor to the host. In this study, we assessed uptake of pharmaceutical compounds in tissues of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) and parasite community response to the change in environmental conditions six months after relocation from a control to a treatment pond loaded by organic pollution from a sewage treatment plant outlet using partial cross-over experimental design. By comparing fish from control and treatment ponds, we observed higher pollutant uptake and the concentration of pharmacological compounds in fish tissues restocked to the treatment pond, along with changes in fish biometric parameters and parasite load. Fish from polluted environment exhibited decreased parasite diversity and higher ectoparasite abundance; however, the major differences were observed between families within taxonomic groups. Our results, therefore, highlight the need for more detailed taxonomic analyses in studies using parasites as potential environmental bioindicators. The response of parasite communities to aquatic contamination has been shown to vary with both type of pollutant and parasite lifestyle. In this semi-experimental study, we examined uptake of pharmaceutical compounds in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) restocked from a control pond to a treatment pond fed with organic pollution from a sewage treatment plant and assessed changes in parasite community composition and fish biometric parameters. The parasite community of restocked fish changed over the six-month exposure period, and the composition of pharmaceutical compounds in the liver and brain was almost the same as that in fish living in the treatment pond their whole life. While fish size and weight were significantly higher in both treatment groups compared to the control, condition indices, including condition factor, hepatosomatic index, and splenosomatic index, were significantly higher in control fish. Parasite diversity and species richness decreased at the polluted site, alongside a significant increase in the abundance of a single parasite species, Gyrodactylus sprostonae. Oviparous monogeneans of the Dactylogyridae and Diplozoidae families and parasitic crustaceans responded to pollution with a significant decrease in abundance, the reduction in numbers most likely related to the sensitivity of their free-living stages to pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-native species are known to escape their parasites following introduction into a new range, but they also often acquire local parasites as a function of time since establishment. We compared the parasite faunas of five non-native Ponto-Caspian gobies (Gobiidae) and local fish species (Perca fluviatilis, Gymnocephalus cernua, Gobio gobio) in three European river systems; the Rivers Rhine, Vistula and Morava, where Ponto-Caspian gobies were introduced 4-13 years prior to the study. Overall parasite species richness was considerably lower in non-native gobies compared to local fish species, and the same result was found at the component and infra-community levels. Both parasite abundance and diversity greatly varied among the regions, with the highest values found in the River Vistula (Wloclawski Reservoir), compared to a relatively impoverished parasite fauna in the River Morava (Danube basin). While only half of parasite species found in local hosts were acquired by non-native gobies, most of the parasites found in gobies were shared with local fish species related either phylogenetically (percids) or ecologically (benthic gudgeon), including the co-introduced monogenean Gyrodactylus proterorhini. As a result, similarity in parasite communities strongly reflected regional affiliation, while phylogenetic distances between fish host species did not play a significant role in parasite community composition. In accordance with other studies, all parasites acquired by gobies in their new range were generalists, all of them infecting fish at the larval/subadult stage, indicating the possible importance of gobies in the life cycle of euryxenous parasites. The absence of adult generalists, particularly ectoparasites with low host specificity, in non-native fish may reflect their generally low abundance in the environment, while an absence of adult endoparasitic generalists was probably related to other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The round goby, Neogobius melanostomus, is a Ponto-Caspian fish species currently found in many parts of Europe, including the North Sea riverine deltas. The objective of this study was to examine the parasite community of fish caught in the lower Elbe (Süderelbe – tidal zone; Geesthacht – non-tidal) in Germany and compare it with published data from the upper Elbe (Ústí nad Labem) in the Czech Republic. Twelve parasite taxa were recorded in the lower Elbe, six in the Süderelbe and nine near the city of Geesthacht. Süderelbe fish were mainly infected with Angullicola crassus larvae, while gobies from Geesthacht – with glochidia and sporadically occurring Pomporhynchus laevis, and the opposite situation was observed at Ústí nad Labem. It appears that a large tidal weir at Geesthacht significantly contributes to the division of the round goby population, with the Geesthacht parasite community being more similar to that at Ústí nad Labem than the one from the Süderelbe, thus increasing the likelihood that shipping from Hamburg was the introduction vector to Ústí nad Labem. We also recorded Acanthocephalus rhinensis in the Elbe for the first time, and in a new host – the round goby. Thus, round gobies may represent a new vector for the introduction of this parasite along the Elbe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]