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OCCURRENCE OF TWO LEECH SPECIES (ANNELIDA: HIRUDINEA) ON FISHES IN THE KENTUCKY RIVER
Citation:
Flotemersch, J E. AND D J. Klemm. OCCURRENCE OF TWO LEECH SPECIES (ANNELIDA: HIRUDINEA) ON FISHES IN THE KENTUCKY RIVER. Presented at North American Benthological Society, La Crosse, WI, June 3-8, 2001.
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this research is to develop methods and indicators that are useful for evaluating the condition of aquatic communities, for assessing the restoration of aquatic communities in response to mitigation and best management practices, and for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (i.e., pesticides, sedimentation, habitat alteration).
Description:
Little is known specifically on the feeding relationships between parasitic leeches and fish in North America. During an electrofishing survey conducted on the main stem of the Kentucky River in the summer of 2000, the presence of leeches was documented on six species of fish. The leech species observed were Piscicolaria reducta (Meyer, 1940) of the family Piscicolidae and Actinobdella pediculata (Hemingway, 1908) in the family Glossiphoniidae. Attachment locations for Piscicolaria reducta included various sites in the buccal cavity of green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus), on the caudal fin of logperch (Percina caprodes) and spotfin shiner (Notropis spilopterus), on the anal fin of spotfin shiner, and posterior to the eye of a largemouth bass. Attachment location observed for Actinobdella pediculata was on the inside of the operculum of a freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens). This study established new host and attachment locations, the diverse presence of Piscicolaria reducta on various fish species, and substantiated the high degree of host specificity of Actinobdella pediculata for the freshwater drum.