TY - JOUR AU - Anegg, Peter AU - Psenner, Roland AU - Tartarotti, Barbara PY - 2014/07/23 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Infestation of zooplankton with Triaenophorus and Proteocephalus procercoids (Cestoda) in a deep oligotrophic lake JF - Journal of Limnology JA - J Limnol VL - 74 IS - 1 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.4081/jlimnol.2014.1021 UR - https://www.jlimnol.it/jlimnol/article/view/jlimnol.2014.1021 SP - AB - <p>In spring 2004, a massive infestation of the whitefish population in the Austrian Lake Achensee with <em>Triaenophorus crassus</em> was observed. Procercoids, the larval stage of parasitic cestodes, infest copepods as their first intermediate host. Therefore, in spring 2011, zooplankton samples were taken weekly at two sampling sites and depth ranges to determine the abundances of crustaceans as well as percentages of infected copepods and temporal occurrence of parasites. In addition, whitefish (<em>Coregonus lavaretus</em>) stomach contents were analysed for food spectrum and parasite infestation. From the end of June to mid-August, procercoids of <em>Triaenophorus</em> spp. were detected in <em>Cyclops abyssorum</em>, the only first intermediate host for this parasite in Lake Achensee. Highest percentages of infected copepods were reached in mid-July (prevalence: 0.38%). Furthermore, an infestation of <em>Proteocephalus</em> sp. was observed in this copepod species, which occurred earlier until the end of the sampling period (prevalence: 1.34%). Besides <em>C. abyssorum</em>, also <em>Eudiaptomus gracilis</em> was occasionally infected with <em>Proteocephalus</em> (prevalence: 0.05%). The<em> </em>procercoids were found in both depth ranges, with no clear vertical infestation preference. More female <em>C. abyssorum </em>were <em>Triaenophorus</em>-infected than males, while the opposite was observed for <em>Proteocephalus</em> infection. The whitefish stomachs contained large numbers of <em>Proteocephalus</em> and <em>Triaenophorus</em> procercoids, coinciding with the occurrence of these parasites in the copepods.</p> ER -