Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax

Spatial and temporal variation of "tetracotyle" type metacercariae infection in the eyes of the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax, was examined to elucidate the potential use of this parasite as a biological tag, and to test the hypothesis that the sardine population is divided into discrete we...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Weston, Laura Frances
Other Authors: Reed, Cecile C
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2014
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613325618053120
access_status_str Open Access
author Weston, Laura Frances
author2 Reed, Cecile C
author_browse Reed, Cecile C
Weston, Laura Frances
author_facet Reed, Cecile C
Weston, Laura Frances
author_sort Weston, Laura Frances
collection Thesis
description Spatial and temporal variation of "tetracotyle" type metacercariae infection in the eyes of the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax, was examined to elucidate the potential use of this parasite as a biological tag, and to test the hypothesis that the sardine population is divided into discrete western and southern subpopulations or stocks. Adult S. sagax specimens of 15 to 22 cm caudal length were collected monthly from five commercial fishery landing harbours to the west (St. Helena and Gans Bay) and to the east (Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth) of Cape Agulhas in 2011 and 2012. Samples were preserved whole in 70% ethanol, or frozen, and then bagged and labelled. Fish were measured (caudal length in cm), sexed and dissected and summary statistics on the infection by "tetracotyl"e- type metacercariae in their eyes were recorded. Prevalence of infection (%), infection intensity and parasite abundance were analysed seasonally, over a period of 18 months, in fish caught to the west of Cape Agulhas and presumed to be part of the putative western stock of sardine, and in fish caught to the east of Cape Agulhas presumed to be part of the putative southern stock. Generalised linear models were used to model these three indices as dependent on stock, season, year and caudal length, where a binomial distribution was assumed for prevalence and a negative binomial distribution was assumed for infection intensity and parasite abundance. All factors contributed significantly to all models, but it was found that stock was the most significant contributor to the deviance seen in prevalence (%) and parasite abundance, and was the second most important contributor to the deviance seen in infection intensity. Fish to the west of Cape Agulhas were found to have significantly higher parasite loads in comparison to fish from the east of Cape Agulhas (p< 0.001). Season was the second most significant contributor to the deviance seen in prevalence and abundance, and was the most important contributor to the deviance seen in infection intensity, indicating that a seasonal signal was present. This seasonal signal was slightly delayed in fish from the putative southern stock in comparison to those from the putative western stock. Interannual differences in infection rates were also observed, being higher in 2012 compared to 2011. These results suggest that """"tetracotyle- type metacercariae can be used as a biological tag in stock discrimination studies and that, despite temporal variability, the clear spatial difference in the distribution of infection of S. sagax by """"tetracotyle- type metacercariae supports the hypothesis of western and southern stocks of sardine off the coast of South Africa.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6628
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:20.437Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Biological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Biological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6628 Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax Weston, Laura Frances Reed, Cecile C Van der Lingen, Carl D Spatial and temporal variation of "tetracotyle" type metacercariae infection in the eyes of the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax, was examined to elucidate the potential use of this parasite as a biological tag, and to test the hypothesis that the sardine population is divided into discrete western and southern subpopulations or stocks. Adult S. sagax specimens of 15 to 22 cm caudal length were collected monthly from five commercial fishery landing harbours to the west (St. Helena and Gans Bay) and to the east (Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth) of Cape Agulhas in 2011 and 2012. Samples were preserved whole in 70% ethanol, or frozen, and then bagged and labelled. Fish were measured (caudal length in cm), sexed and dissected and summary statistics on the infection by "tetracotyl"e- type metacercariae in their eyes were recorded. Prevalence of infection (%), infection intensity and parasite abundance were analysed seasonally, over a period of 18 months, in fish caught to the west of Cape Agulhas and presumed to be part of the putative western stock of sardine, and in fish caught to the east of Cape Agulhas presumed to be part of the putative southern stock. Generalised linear models were used to model these three indices as dependent on stock, season, year and caudal length, where a binomial distribution was assumed for prevalence and a negative binomial distribution was assumed for infection intensity and parasite abundance. All factors contributed significantly to all models, but it was found that stock was the most significant contributor to the deviance seen in prevalence (%) and parasite abundance, and was the second most important contributor to the deviance seen in infection intensity. Fish to the west of Cape Agulhas were found to have significantly higher parasite loads in comparison to fish from the east of Cape Agulhas (p< 0.001). Season was the second most significant contributor to the deviance seen in prevalence and abundance, and was the most important contributor to the deviance seen in infection intensity, indicating that a seasonal signal was present. This seasonal signal was slightly delayed in fish from the putative southern stock in comparison to those from the putative western stock. Interannual differences in infection rates were also observed, being higher in 2012 compared to 2011. These results suggest that """"tetracotyle- type metacercariae can be used as a biological tag in stock discrimination studies and that, despite temporal variability, the clear spatial difference in the distribution of infection of S. sagax by """"tetracotyle- type metacercariae supports the hypothesis of western and southern stocks of sardine off the coast of South Africa. 2014-08-20T19:21:36Z 2014-08-20T19:21:36Z 2013 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6628 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Weston, Laura Frances
Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax
title_full Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax
title_fullStr Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax
title_full_unstemmed Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax
title_short Temporal and spatial variability in 'Tetracotyle' type and metacercariae infection in the South African sardine, Sardinops sagax
title_sort temporal and spatial variability in tetracotyle type and metacercariae infection in the south african sardine sardinops sagax
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6628
work_keys_str_mv AT westonlaurafrances temporalandspatialvariabilityintetracotyletypeandmetacercariaeinfectioninthesouthafricansardinesardinopssagax