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The occurrence of Mytilicola intestinalis Steuer, an intestinal copepod parasite of Mytilus, in the south-west of England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. T. Davey
Affiliation:
NERC Institute for Marine Environmental Research, Citadel Road, Plymouth PL1 3DH
J. M. Gee
Affiliation:
NERC Institute for Marine Environmental Research, Citadel Road, Plymouth PL1 3DH

Abstract

The occurrence of Mytilicola intestinalis in populations of mussels in south-west England is recorded and compared with previous data. Since 1955 there have been two main changes in the distribution of Mytilicola: (a) it has invaded all the major estuarine mussel populations on the Bristol Channel coast, and (b) many previously uninfested open-coast populations all round the peninsula are now lightly infested. It is suggested that differences in infestation levels between estuarine and open-coast populations of mussels are due primarily to differences in the degree of exposure to wave action although factors such as size, population density and location of the hosts also influence infestation. The chance of the establishment of breeding pairs of Mytilicola depends on the parasite population size and its distribution through the host population

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1976

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