What’s in a Fish? A Survey of the Parasitic Fauna of Some Etheostoma Species in Georgia

Parasites are organisms that live either on or within a host and obtain their food at the cost of the host organism. Even though approximately forty percent of all known species are parasitic, parasites are extremely understudied. In particular, Etheostoma, a genus of small freshwater darter fish, have relatively few parasites recorded, and none in Georgia. This project aimed to examine multiple North American species of Etheostoma and report their parasites. A vast majority of the fish dissected contained nematodes, with some individuals also carrying trematodes, acanthocephalans, metacercaria (larval form of digenean trematodes), and monogeneans. Our results showed that Etheostoma species are a common host for nematodes, a phylum of roundworms commonly located in or encysted within the lining of the stomach and intestine. After surveying multiple scholarly article databases, we anticipate that our research would be the first known study of parasites for our species of Etheostoma fish in Georgia. This knowledge would be particularly important for Etheostoma scotti, which is currently listed as a threatened species in Georgia. Parasitology is important for a multitude of reasons regarding conservation. Parasites affect host fitness, host population sizes, and biodiversity, and knowing what parasite species infect target hosts can help aid in the recovery of endangered species