A Long Temporal Study of Parasitism in Asexual-Sexual Populations of Carassius gibelio: Does the Parasite Infection Support Coevolutionary Red Queen Dynamics?

Abstract

Carassius gibelio is an extraordinary cyprinid species exhibiting both sexual and asexual reproduction. We hypothesized that parasitism selection is one of the potential mechanisms contributing to the coexistence of the two reproductive forms of C. gibelio living in the same habitat. We performed a four-year study to investigate the dynamics of parasite infection in C. gibelio. According to the Red Queen prediction, the asexual form is a target of parasite adaptation due to its low genetic variability. Both sexual and gynogenetic forms of C. gibelio exhibited similar levels of prevalence, with monogeneans being the most frequently observed parasite group. We observed the temporal dynamics of parasite infection in the last year of investigation, when both forms were more strongly parasitized. The sexual form was more parasitized by ectoparasites in the first and last years and less parasitized by nematodes in the last year when compared to the gynogenetic form. We found no trend of high parasite infection in gynogenetic mtDNA haplotypes. We conclude that Red Queen dynamics is not the mechanism driving parasite infection in sexual-gynogenetic C. gibelio over a long time scale. Alternatively, we suggest that the dynamics of parasite infection in this complex may be generated by multiple mechanisms.

The Influence of Contracaecum larvae (Nematoda, Anisakidae) Parasitism on the Population of Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio) in Lake Sakadaš, Croatia

“…Curiously, no other taxa of macroscopic ectoparasites or macroscopic helminth endoparasites were discovered in the Prussian carp. In comparison to the research of Demir and Karakişi [ 39 ], Daghigh Roohi et al [ 38 ] and Pakosta et al [ 52 ], who discovered a total of three, four and eight different taxonomic groups of parasites respectively, the diversity of parasitofauna of Prussian carp in this research was considerably low.…”

Alien fish, amphibian and reptile species in Romania and their invasive status: a review with new data

“…Morphologically gibelio and auratus overlap (Oțel 2019), and gibelio appears to be but one of many recurrently/fluctuatingly polyploid auratus strains (Qin et al 2016;Liu et al 2017). Apparently sexual individuals of all forms of the C. auratus group (auratus, gibelio and even the Japanese cuvieri) interbreed without ill effects (Xiao et al 2011;Kokodiy 2018;Liu et al 2019;Mezhzherin et al 2020) and the sex determinism is partly genetic and partly temperature dependent (Li et al 2018); this and parasite resistance dynamics (Pakosta et al 2018) determine frequent reversal of gynogenetic condition towards the sexual one (Xiao et al 2011;Rylková et al 2013;Luo et al 2014;Li et al 2018;Przybył et al 2020). Therefore, gibelio is best considered a subspecies/form of C. auratus, wider spread across Eurasia (including Eastern Europe) than the typical C. a. auratus (native to Eastern Asia).…”

Is gynogenetic reproduction in gibel carp (Carassius gibelio) a major trait responsible for invasiveness?

“…A study of gibel carp focused on the variability of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes (representing functional immune genes in vertebrates) and parasite load showed that if gynogenetic and sexual forms coexist in a slightly biased ratio (gynogenetic females comprising 60% of a population and sexuals comprising 40%), the most common MHC clones of the gynogenetic form suffer from high parasite richness or high intensities of infection by metazoan parasites (mostly by host-specific gill monogeneans of Dactylogyrus) (Šimková et al 2013). However, the temporal dynamics of parasite infection in gynogenetic and sexual forms of gibel carp coexisting in the same habitat (with gynogens comprising an estimated 37% of the population and sexuals comprising 63%) was not consistent with the prediction of the Red Queen hypothesis in a 4-year study (Pakosta et al 2018), indicating the effects of multiple abiotic and biotic factors on parasite load in both forms. The sexual form was even more strongly infected by monogenean ectoparasites in the first and last years, whilst the gynogenetic form was more strongly parasitized by nematodes in the two final years.…”

“…Later, Rylková et al (2013) designated C. gibelio a valid species, one of the members of the C. auratus complex (this complex includes Carassius langsdorfii, Carassius cuvieri, C. auratus and C. gibelio). Recent sampling in the River Dyje (Czech Republic) revealed four mitochondrial lineages of C. auratus complex, namely C. gibelio, C. auratus, C. langsdorfi and the so-called M-line, the three last lines were present at low frequency and mtDNA C. gibelio represented the most common line (96%) (Pakosta et al 2018). Gibel carp has a specific mode of reproduction exhibiting both asexual and sexual reproduction, which is a rarity in nature and is documented only in a small number of freshwater fishes, including nine genera (Lamatsch & Stöck 2009).…”