An introduced parasite, Lernaea cyprinacea L., found on native freshwater fishes in the south west of Western Australia

Abstract

Lernaea cyprinacea L. is a parasitic copepod found on the skin and gills of freshwater fishes. Although L. cyprinacea has been introduced into eastern Australia, it has, until now, never been reported in Western Australia. We found infestations of L. cyprinacea on four native fish species (Galaxias occidentalis Ogilby; Edelia vittata Castelnau; Bostockia porosa Castelnau; Tandanus bostocki Whitley) and three introduced fish species (Carassius auratus L.; Gambusia holbrooki (Girard); Phalloceros caudimaculatus (Hensel)) at two localities in the Canning River, in the south west of Western Australia. The likely source of the parasites is introduced cyprinids, such as C. auratus and Cyprinus carpio L. The parasite has the potential to have serious pathogenic effects on native fish species, although it appears to be currently localised to a small section of the Canning River.