Anguillicola Yamaguti, 1935

Kirjusina, Muza, Paidere, Jana, Rubenina, Ilze, Kecko, Sanita, Bricis, Reinis, Mežaraupe, Ligita & Gavarane, Inese, 2023, Common Freshwater Fish Nematodes In Latvia, Acta Biologica Universitatis Daugavpiliensis 23 (2), pp. 189-206 : 195

Genus Anguillicola Yamaguti, 1935

Anguillicola crassus Kuwahara, Niimi and Itagaki, 1974

For the first time in Latvia, this freshwater nematode has been reported by K. Vismanis (1998) in eel from Usmas Lake. In the 2000s, the nematode was found in eastern Latvia in lakes not connected to the sea. The nematode has also been found in paratenic hosts – mainly ruffe and perch ( Kirjusina & Vismanis 2007). Mass mortality of eel in Lake Usmas was recorded by M. Kirjusina and K. Vismanis (2000).

Various copepods and ostracods, over 17 species, have been identified as intermediate hosts for European eels in experimental and natural conditions. The copepod Cyclops strenuus is a potential intermediate host for A. crassus . In Latvian water bodies, Cyclops strenuus is common and widely distributed ( Deimantoviča et al. 2011, Dimante-Deimantoviča 2012). Overall, it can be recorded from a variety of water bodies (lakes, ponds, fish ponds, rivers, estuaries, floodplain lakes and reservoirs). The larvae ingested by the intermediate host or paratenic host (should another fish species consume the intermediate host) and can infect definitive host, eels in the genus Anguilla ( de Charleroy et al. 1990, Nimeth et al. 2000). At least 30 different fish species, several amphibian, snail, and insect species that can act as paratenic hosts of A. crassus in Europe ( Thomas & Ollevier 1992, Szekely 1994, Moravec and Konecny 1994, Moravec 1996, Szekely 1996, Moravec and Skorikova 1998, Moravec et al. 2005).