Folia Parasitologica 51[1] 50-54 (2004) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2004.007

Observations on the distribution and biology of Huffmanela huffmani (Nematoda: Trichosomoididae)

Marlin K. Cox¹, David G. Huffman², František Moravec³

¹ Department of Fisheries, Percival Hall, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26505, USA

² Aquatic Biology, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas 78666, USA

³ Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic

The nematode parasite Huffmanela huffmani Moravec, 1987 (Trichosomoididae) infects swimbladders of fishes in the family Centrarchidae. Only fish collected from the upper San Marcos River (Texas) have been found infected with H. huffmani eggs with a prevalence of 90%. Hundreds of thousands of H. huffmani eggs have been observed in these fish but only a few specimens of adult worms have ever been found. The San Marcos River arises from springs along the Balcones Fault Zone in San Marcos, Hays County, Texas. The restriction of the parasite to the upper San Marcos River and the high prevalence of the parasite eggs in centrarchids would seem to enable one to solve the life cycle of H. huffmani but this has proved false. Here, the insights and experiments used to help define some of the aspects concerning the life cycle of this enigmatic parasite are described. This study of H. huffmani includes a description of the habitat, the known limits of geographic distribution of the parasite, possible dispersal processes, egg characteristics, the testing of a possible intermediate host, Palaemonetes antrorum (Benedict) (Decapoda: Palaemonidae), and the effects of the digestion process on H. huffmani eggs.

Keywords: Nematoda, Trichosomoididae, Huffmanela, geographic distribution, life cycle

Received: August 11, 2003; Accepted: December 17, 2003; Published: March 1, 2004  Show citation