Epitheliocystis in wild marine fishes and its relation with anthropogenic pollution |
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Authors: | Gabriela N Novacovsky María G Palacios María C Sueiro |
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Institution: | Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos, Centro Nacional Patagónico – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Puerto Madryn, Argentina |
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Abstract: | Epitheliocystis is a fish disease with recorded in increasing numbers globally. Here we show that (a) pollution-exposed wild marine fishes have higher infection prevalence than nonexposed individuals from reference sites, suggesting that anthropogenic pollution predisposes individuals to this disease in natural systems, (b) the effect of pollution on infection status did not vary significantly between two sympatric fish species, and (c) infected and noninfected individuals from both species did not differ significantly in selected immune and general-health parameters, a result that deserves further study with increased sample sizes. |
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Keywords: | anthropogenic impact fish disease intracellular bacteria Patagonian waters |
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