Updates on Aquatic Parasites in Fisheries: Implications to Food Safety, Food Security and Environmental Protection

Abstract

Journal of Coastal Zone Management AbstractCheap protein sources from fishery products come from both capture fishery and aquaculture industries. Despite the available technologies that help increase wild catch and aquaculture production, our food security is being threatened by several factors including parasitic infections. Zoonotic parasites infecting our fishery products are one of the several concerns for our food safety. Among these include the infections with the nematode Anisakis in marine fishes and cephalopods causing human anisakiasis and/or allergy-associated health risks, the nematode Gnathostoma causing gnathostomiasis, and food poisoning due to the myxozoan infection of the genus Kudoa. On the other hand, the increasing human population, dwindling fish catch from the wild, degradation of aquatic environment, and declining or slow growth of aquaculture sector due to parasitic diseases are all posing global threats to the security and sustainability of fish supplies. The wild fish populations are affected by the parasitic diseases that directly and indirectly affect fish reproduction, growth, and survival, whereas intensifications of aquaculture operations cause fish health problems associated to parasitic diseases resulting to decline in production. Despite these negative impacts of parasites, there are several parasite groups that are used as biological indicators for food chain structure, heavy metal contamination, environmental pollutions and fish stock assessment (i.e., nematodes Anisakis, Hysterothylacium, Anguillicola, Spirophilometra, Raphidascaris, and Philometra; acanthocephalans Pomphorhynchus, Serrasentis, and Acanthocephalus; cestodes Bothriocephalus, Monobothrium, and Ligula; monogenean Pseudorhabdosynochus; and digenean Didymodiclinus), as well as reducer of heavy metal accumulation in the body of their host fish (i.e., acanthocephalans Pomphorhynchus and Acanthocephalus). The use of these parasites for proper management of fishery resources can be of help in addressing food safety, fish security, and food sustainability, while at the same time managing our fishery resources. As we are addressing these global issues, these parasites that we are considering as threats can be of useful value to attain sustainable development.

Morphological and molecular (28S rRNA) data of monogeneans (Platyhelminthes) infecting the gill lamellae of marine fishes in the Campeche Bank, southwest Gulf of Mexico

“…Otherwise, the fewer the parasites observed, the worse the environmental conditions and thus the biodiversity (see Vidal-Martínez and Wunderlich 2017 ). Therefore, parasite biodiversity information can be critical for the control and safe management of commercial fish species ( Vignon and Sasal 2010 , Quiazon 2015 ). However, parasites remain an underestimated component of the total biodiversity in many regions ( Lafferty et al 2015 ).…”

Insight into the correlation between parasitic infestation and heavy metal concentrations in tilapia species inhabiting Lake Nasser, Egypt

“…infect fish as an intermediate host; these parasites have zoonotic importance, causing Halzoun human disease and Contracaecosis disease, respectively, when consumed in raw or undercooked infected fish (Chai et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2017). Moreover, several parasitic diseases reduce the growth rates and market value of wild and cultured fish (Barber & Svensson, 2003;Chandra, 2006;Hamouda et al, 2018;Mishra et al, 2017;Quiazon, 2015;Scholz, 1999). Such diseases may lead to skin, gill and gastrointestinal abrasions that facilitate the invasion of other opportunistic microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi (Eissa, 2002;Woo, 1995).…”

Diclidophora luscae (Monogenea: Diclidophoridae) in pouting, Trisopterus luscus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the northeast Atlantic; epidemiology, morphology, molecular and phylogenetic analysis

“…Fish parasites represent an important part of aquatic biodiversity (Palm 2011;Quiazon 2015), and their distributions become affected either by abiotic factors (temperature, salinity) or biotic ones (life cycle of parasite, host specificity, behaviour, availability of hosts) (Palm 2011;MacKenzie and Abaunza 2014). Thus, determining the factors which affect the distribution of parasites is complex in commercial species in the areas of its distribution (Landa and Cañás 2017).…”

“…Parasites are an integral part of the aquatic ecosystem, and fish parasites represent an important component of aquatic biodiversity (Palm 2011;Quiazon 2015). To avoid the commercialization of obviously parasitized fish, the detection of visible parasites in fishery products for human consumption is ruled by European Union, Commission Regulation (EC) No 2074/2005.…”