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Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

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DAO 127:49-56 (2017)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03182

Quantifying parasite presence in relation to biological parameters of harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena stranded on the Dutch coast

Mariëlle T. I. ten Doeschate1,2,3,*, Lonneke L. IJsseldijk1, Sjoukje Hiemstra1, Els A. de Jong2, Arjen Strijkstra2, Andrea Gröne1, Lineke Begeman1,4

1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 1, 3584 CL Utrecht, Netherlands
2Wildlife Management, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Agora 1, 8934 CJ Leeuwarden, Netherlands
3Present address: Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, SRUC Veterinary Services, Drummondhill, Inverness IV3 5SZ, UK
4Present address: Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, Netherlands
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Harbour porpoises are often found to be infected by endoparasites in several organs including the lungs and stomach as well as the heart, liver and ears. Nevertheless there is still little knowledge about the impact, ecology, transmission, and virulence of these parasitic infections. Here, we profile the presence of parasites in 4 frequently infected organs (lungs, stomach, liver and ears) in relation to biological parameters of harbour porpoises stranded along the Dutch coastline between December 2008 and December 2013. We found that parasites were common, with prevalence of 68% in lungs, 74.4% in ears, 26% in stomach and 23.5% in liver. We used generalised linear models to further quantify parasite presence in relation to biological data gathered during necropsy (sex, body length and nutritive condition). Body length (used as a proxy for age) was significant in explaining parasite presence for all organs with increasing probability of having the parasite with increasing body length. For the parasitic infections in the ears and stomach the nutritive condition was an additional significant factor, with a higher probability of parasite presence in porpoises in a poorer nutritive condition. The results of this study can be used as a baseline for assessing parasite presence in harbour porpoises and are a first step towards linking parasite infections to basic biological data gathered during necropsy.


KEY WORDS: Marine mammals · Parasites · Harbour porpoise · Nematode · Trematode · North Sea · Strandings · Generalised linear model


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Cite this article as: ten Doeschate MTI, IJsseldijk LL, Hiemstra S, de Jong EA, Strijkstra A, Gröne A, Begeman L (2017) Quantifying parasite presence in relation to biological parameters of harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena stranded on the Dutch coast. Dis Aquat Org 127:49-56. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03182

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