Reef Fishes Have Higher Parasite Richness at Unfished Palmyra Atoll Compared to Fished Kiritimati Island
This study compared parasite communities at two coral atolls in the Line Islands chain of the central Pacific (Kiritimati Island and Palmyra Atoll). Palmyra Atoll is relatively pristine while Kiritimati Island is heavily fished. At each island, the study sampled five fish species for helminth and arthropod endoparasites: Chromis margaritifer, Plectroglyphidodon dickii, Paracirrhites arcatus, Acanthurus nigricans, and Lutjanus bohar. The surveys found monogeneans, digeneans, cestodes, nematodes, acanthocephalans, and copepods. Parasite richness was higher at Palmyra compared to Kiritimati for all five fish species
Environment and Conservation Division-MELAD
Kevin D. Lafferty, Jenny C. Shaw, and Armand M. Kuris
The lower parasitism at Kiritimati may result from a simplified food web due to over fishing.