Life history and population biology of adult Acanthocephalus lucii (Acanthocephala: Echinorhynchidae).

The life history and population biology of adult A. lucii in perch, Perca fluviatilis L., from the Forth and Clyde canal, Scotland, was investigated during May 1979-September 1981. There was an annual cycle in the size of the parasite population; prevalence and abundance (+/- SE) were highest during late spring and summer (70-90% and 14 +/- 4.3 to 16 +/- 5.6 worms/fish, respectively) but declined during late autumn and reached a minimum during winter (50-60% and 2.1 +/- 0.9 to 3.2 +/- 0.6 worms/fish). Parasite maturation was associated with higher water temperatures during spring and summer and most shelled acanthors were probably produced during summer and fall. There was only 1 generation of A. lucii per year, although generations tended to overlap and individuals within each generation did not develop synchronously. The sex ratio of adults was initially near unity but favoured females in the later stages of the infection. The distribution of A. lucii among perch was highly aggregated and stomach content analysis suggested that this was partly due to heterogeneity in perch feeding behaviour. The negative binomial and Poisson lognormal models fitted the data on worm distribution. Seasonal changes in the degree of parasite aggregation were detected, but no conclusive evidence of density-dependent controls on parasite population growth was obtained.