Experimental transfer of Anisakis sp. larvae (Nematoda: Ascaridida) from one fish host to another

Abstract

Batches of 10 Anisakis larvae from Greenland salmon (Salmo salar) were labelled with radioiodcin and fed to 10 haddock (Melanogrammus aegiefimis). Similar batches of larvae from herring (Clupea harengus) were fed to 8 whiting (Merlangius merlangus). At post-mortem from 15 to 190 hours after infection, 0 to 6 larvae were recovered from whiting (over-all recovery rate 18.8%) and 0 to 4 larvae were recovered from haddock (over-all recovery rate 27%). Larvae penetrated the wall of the stomach or of a pyloric caecum. They were first seen in the body-cavity 24 hours after infection and a delicate capsule was present around some of them by 34 hours. Most larvae were recovered from the body-cavity but, in haddock, two had penetrated the epaxial musculature.