Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science

Is There a Decline in the Marine Parasite Population?

Julianna Saez

MARS 2022/ Oceanography

Mr. Werner

28 October, 2019
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The word “parasite” has always been assigned a negative connotation wherever it is

mentioned. This is mostly due to the fact that parasites survive by living off of other organisms

and taking all of their nutrients for their benefit. Interestingly, marine parasites are not brought

into attention as much as their terrestrial counterparts since they are native to an area that not

many people come into contact with: the ocean. For a definitive reference, the term “parasite”

will be defined as “all natural enemies that exploit only one victim in a single life stage and that

rely upon infectious processes to find new hosts” (Wood, Lafferty, and Micheli). Unfortunately,

both aquatic parasites and their impact on the marine ecosystem are usually overlooked by the

average person, which is harmful within itself.

Marine parasites have a profound place in the marine food web (which will be elaborated

on later in this paper) and if their population were to ever decline or increase, one could imagine

the large repercussions that would occur as a result. Unfortunately, such scenarios have a

possibility to become a reality. Multiple studies have concluded that due to certain pressures

placed on the oceans, the population of parasites will potentially change in both size and

diversity. Then begs the question: what could cause such a large disruption in the abundance of

marine parasites?

A common occurrence that many would not view as being detrimental for parasites is

excessive fishing. Marine parasites thrive and spread by being transmitted among multiple fishes,

so when the amount of possible hosts becomes reduced, parasites lose their source of nutrients

for growth—this scenario is what occurs as a result of intensive fishing, especially those of

commercial. Particular fish species tend to be targeted more than others mostly due to demand on

the market, and when a great amount of a specific population is taken from a natural habitat, it
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influences the transmission of their parasites (Wood, Lafferty, and Micheli). This is

exceptionally alarming knowing that “[i]f the density of a host population falls below the

threshold level necessary for successful transmission, the result may be a complete failure of

transmission and local extinction of the parasite” (MacKenzie and Pert). Becoming aware of the

damaging effects intensive fishing has on parasites is only part of truly understanding the entire

scope of the issue.

A study conducted by Chelsea Wood observed abundance and diversity amongst

parasites within the Pacific Ocean’s Line Islands. Taking samples of seven fish species, Wood

analyzed whether there was a significant difference in what parasites inhabited each host

depending on their location (out of the six islands, half experience consistent fishing, while the

other half did not). The study concluded on the fact that there was a lack of parasitic diversity in

fish collected from fished locations compared to those that were taken from unfished islands by

more than 50% (Wood et al.). The results of this study can be seen in ​Figure 1​. Interestingly,

there was not a major significant difference in the ​abundance​ of parasites between the islands,

which Wood hypothesized was due to the form of transmission certain parasites species utilize;

however, she also acknowledges that this area of study would not be able to compare to the

grand scale of fishing that occurs in other parts of the globe: “Though there are marked

differences in the sh community between our shed and unshed islands, shing pressure on

Teraina, Tabuaeran, and Kiritimati is probably relatively light when compared to intensely shed

orovershed coral reef ecosystems globally” (Wood et al.). Despite the small range and lighter

fishing pressure that took place within the Line Islands that were studied, the change in parasitic

diversity was still able to be detected. The overall effect that commercial fishing would have on
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marine parasites as a whole is too grand to be analyzed in one study; yet, at the very least, the

consequences of such can be hypothesized through previous observations. It is worth noting that

this outcome may appear to be beneficial as a whole for both consumers and fisheries themselves

since parasites only cause issues with the quality of the fish caught, but this outlook neglects the

importance of these parasites in the marine ecosystem.

Parasites play a significant part in the marine web cycle; although they are often

overlooked in food chains, their presence can alter the way energy is transferred between aquatic

organisms. A study conducted by researchers in 2004 compared a specific food web in Company

Bay, New Zealand in order to determine a difference structure in the web when marine parasites

were, and were not, incorporated (Thompson, Mouristen, and Poulin). What they concluded was

that the inclusion of parasites caused the food chain to grow longer and an increased linkage

density, which can be seen in ​Figure 2 ​and ​Figure 3​, both of which showing the effectiveness

parasites provide to different species in the ecosystem, especially predators:

Logically, the inclusion of parasites affected the number of top species by relegating

some top predators to an intermediate status. As the parasite definitive hosts were also

top predators, parasite species with a large number of definitive hosts had the greatest

effect on the number of top species (Thompson, Mouristen, and Poulin).

It is clear that parasitic influence in marine communities is imperative for the functionality of the

ecosystem, and their possible removal would cause the structure to falter.

Another purpose that marine parasites have is their ability to serve as bioindicators,

which are organisms that indicate a range of factors, via their population size. Something as

simple as too much zinc in the water is enough to alter the larval stage of multiple different
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parasites and decrease their adult numbers as a result (Nachev and Sures). If marine parasites

were to diminish as a population, the effect it would have for the marine ecosystems would be

detrimental, and their purpose of serving as bioindicators would lessen due to their inconsistent

community numbers. However, what if the opposite scenario were true, and parasites were

actually growing in population size?

A contrast for the negative effects of intensive fishing on marine parasites are those

brought by the issue of global climate change. An increase in water temperature would be

enough to alter the dynamic between parasites and their hosts, either by directly changing the life

cycle of parasites or indirectly affecting the behavior of the hosts. The rate of parasitic

transmissions can be linked to the outbreak of aquatic diseases. For example, bitter crab disease,

which affects snow crabs by Newfoundland and is caused by parasitic dinoflagellates, has

increased greatly in its spreading amongst crabs ever since in was first reported in 1990. It is

easy to correlate the growing rates with rising seas temperatures since “[g]lobal warming may

extend the transmission season and increase prevalence in crab populations” (Marcogliese).

Marcogliese’s paper on the effects of high temperatures on parasites include: rapid growth,

increased annual parasitic generations, and earlier time frames of transmission. Of course, it is

necessary to acknowledge that global warming alone will not serve as only factor behind the

population growth of marine parasites. Alterations in habitat loss, pollution, and introductions to

foreign species are also expected to vary along with climate change (Marcogliese).

To properly assess the possible effects climate change would have on marine parasites, a

series of experiments were conducted in a laboratory in order to study the effects of temperature

change on transmission stages of the parasite ​Maritrema novaezealandensis o​ n amphipods by A.

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Studer and his fellow researchers. They found that increasing the water’s temperature would also

raise the emergence rate of parasitic larvae. However, the rate also began to steadily decrease the

more the temperature went up, showing that beyond the optimal range, warmer water would lose

its effectiveness and instead create unsuitable conditions for the parasites to grow in.

The overall results of the study can be seen in ​Figure 4​. The researchers state that due to their

experiments, they predict: “the parasite will find such optimal conditions more often and for

longer periods of time with global warming. Under such conditions, the impact of the parasite on

a host population could be substantial, as massive infection events” (Studer, Thieltges, and

Poulin). Considering that the majority of parasitic species would react in the same fashion as

Maritrema novaezealandensis u​ nder similar conditions, then the effects of global climate change

will also cause them to transmit among hosts more quickly and spread more than when the

temperatures remained cooler prior to the warming.

Taking into account the consequences pointed out previously in this paper on what would

happen if parasites where to decrease in population size, the opposite results can be hypothesized

for an increase in population. Their place in the marine ecosystem would negatively influence

those at the top of the food chain, specifically by causing an excessive mortality rate in predators

that would disrupt the overall flow of the web. As for their role as bioindicators, their population

would be too oversaturated to serve as proper detectors of foreign metals in aquatic environments

and would alternatively cause the most harm to the system they are in themselves. Because of the

contrasting situations that each positively and negatively affect the population of marine

parasites, there is no definitive conclusion on whether the parasites are truly declining or

increasing in size or abundance. With the inevitable threats of global warming and the
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continuous act of the commercialization of fisheries, only time and future studies will be able to

determine the direction marine parasites as a whole species will take in terms of population.

Appendix

Figure 1​: Results for Wood’s study depicting the difference in diversity of parasite taxon

depending of if the island their host was collected from was either fished or unfished.
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Figure 2​: Marine food web collected from Company Bay, New Zealand with the inclusion of

parasites.

Figure 3​: Marine food web collected from Company Bay, New Zealand excluding marine

parasites. The amount of lines within the web are visibly greater than the one shown in

Figure 2​.
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Figure 4​: Overall results of A. Studer’s experiments with increasing temperature and its effects

on ​Maritrema novaezealandensis a​ nd the amphipods used.

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Works Cited

MacKenzie, Ken, and Campbell Pert. “Evidence for the Decline and Possible Extinction of

a Marine Parasite Species Caused by Intensive Fishing.” Fisheries Research, vol. 198, 5

June 2017, pp. 63–65.,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165783617302898.

Marcogliese , D.J. “The Impact of Climate Change on the Parasites and Infectious Diseases of

Aquatic Animals.” Rev Sci Tech, vol. 27, Aug. 2008, pp. 467–484.,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18819673.

Nachev, Milen, and Bernd Sures. “Environmental Parasitology: Parasites as Accumulation

Bioindicators in the Marine Environment.” Journal of Sea Research, vol. 113, 22 Dec.

2014, pp. 45–50., www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1385110115300071.

Studer, A., et al. “Evidence for the Decline and Possible Extinction of a Marine Parasite Species

Caused by Intensive Fishing.” MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES, vol. 415, 29

Sept. 2010, pp. 11–22.

Thompson, Ross M, et al. “Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Importance of Parasites and Their Life

Cycle Characteristics in Determining the Structure of a Large Marine Food Web.”

Journal of Animal Ecology , vol. 74, 2005, pp. 77–85.

Wood, Chelsea L, et al. “Fishing out Marine Parasites? Impacts of Fishing on Rates of Parasitism

in the Ocean.” Ecology Letters, vol. 13, no. 6, 18 May 2010, pp. 761–775.,

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01467.x.

Wood, Chelsea, et al. “Fishing Drives Declines in Fish Parasite Diversity and Has Variable

Effects on Parasite Abundance.” Ecology, vol. 95, 2014, pp. 1929–1946.