Parasites of Fish from the Great Lakes - Great Lakes Fishery ...

fish species examined and parasites found, each Great Lake was somewhat different from the
others. Percids were the prominent fish species examined in Lake Michigan; salmonids in Lake
Superior; cyprinids, percids, and centrarchids in Lake Huron; and centrarchids, percids, and
cyprinids in Lakes Erie and Ontario. Autogenic helminths were common to all of the prominent
fish in each lake.
INTRODUCTION
Prior to this effort there have been limited attempts to synthesize and compile all of the existing
parasite data into one document. The literature on the parasites of fish in the Great Lakes is
extensive, diverse, and fragmented throughout many publications. Historically, studies have
focused on three major areas: parasite taxonomy, parasite faunal surveys, and parasite life
histories. Many of these parasite studies are limited in that only one parasite species or parasite
group was studied, only one fish species was studied, or the number of fish examined was small.
Only a few of the studies are on parasites that are considered to be pathogenic to fish and
contribute to fish mortality. Scattered among these articles are those dealing with the presence of
parasites in edible fish products and fish-transmitted parasites of human-health importance. These
studies were not prompted by some pressing or continuous issue involving fish biology, parasites,
pathology, or holistic lake approach, but represent the unknown interests of specific investigators
at certain agencies and institutions. Margolis and Arthur (1979) and Dechtiar and co-workers
listed the parasites of fishes in Canadian waters of the Great Lakes and Hudson et al. (2003)
presented a list on the internet of some parasitic copepods of some fish species in the Great
Lakes. However, these efforts were not totally inclusive and no other synopses have been
published since that time. The objective of this present study was to summarize all of the
available information on the parasites of fishes from the Great Lakes and their connecting waters
in an accessible form in a single document. This synopsis will provide a baseline reference for
investigators interested in these parasites and fish and provide an initial descriptive analysis of the
parasites and their communities of fish from these lakes. This fish-parasite baseline will be
valuable in evaluating changes brought about by environmental variation and the introduction of
exotic organisms.
Esch (1971) proposed a means of characterizing aquatic environments using autogenic and
allogenic helminth species. Autogenic helminth species complete their life cycles in fish, and
allogenic helminth species complete their life cycles in piscivorous birds and mammals. Using
this autogenic-allogenic dichotomy, another study objective was to describe, compare, and
separate the helminth faunas of specific fish species and fish families in the Great Lakes, as well
as to attempt to characterize the Great Lakes using the parasite species of fish. Finally, the present
study describes the entire parasite fauna of fish in the Great Lakes and not just the helminth fauna
as many previous studies have done in other aquatic environments.
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