Parasitic Nematodes in Aquatic Ecosystems

Parasitic nematodes occupy nearly every aquatic habitat, from coastal seas to freshwater lakes and rivers, infecting hosts that range from invertebrates to fishes, amphibians and even marine reptiles. Their life cycles often involve complex trophic transmission, with larvae developing in intermediate hosts such as copepods or molluscs before maturing in definitive vertebrate hosts. These parasites influence host physiology, behaviour and population dynamics, with consequences for food-web structure, nutrient cycling and fisheries productivity. Advances in molecular diagnostics, high-resolution imaging and integrative taxonomy have revealed cryptic species diversity and refined our understanding of host specificity, geographical distribution and evolutionary history. In aquaculture settings, heavy nematode burdens can compromise fish welfare and pose zoonotic risks, prompting research into control strategies and environmental management. Globally, parasitic nematodes serve as indicators of ecosystem health and biodiversity, while also driving fundamental research into co-evolutionary processes and parasite-mediated selection.

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Parasitic Nematodes in Aquatic Ecosystems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in parasitic nematodes in aquatic ecosystems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Host specificity: The degree to which a parasite species is restricted to particular host taxa or species.

Paratenic host: An organism that harbours infective larval stages without further development, facilitating transmission to the definitive host.

Cophylogeny: The study of parallel evolutionary histories between interacting organisms, such as hosts and their parasites.

Spicule: A hardened, often sclerotised, structure in male nematodes used during copulation.

Integrative taxonomy: A multidisciplinary approach to species delimitation that combines morphological, molecular and ecological data.

References

1. Some nematodes from freshwater fishes in central Africa. Folia Parasitologica (2017).
2. New species and new records of camallanid nematodes (Nematoda, Camallanidae) from marine fishes and sea snakes in New Caledonia. Parasite (2019).
3. On the Evolutionary History of Philometridae (Nematoda: Dracunculoidea): Integrative Taxonomy Reveals Evidence of Character Diversification and Host–Parasite Cophylogenetic Patterns. Diversity (2023).