PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 83 Washington : 1935 No. 2977 



PARASITES OF FISHES IN GALVESTON BAY 



By Asa C. Chandler 

 Rice Institute, Houston, Tex. 



During the summer of 1933 a survey of the fish fauna of certain 

 selected localities in Galveston Ba}^ on the Texas coast was made by 

 A. W. Collier. A considerable number of specimens were supplied 

 me for parasitological examination, and I examined 23 host species, 

 the individual specimens of each varying from 1 to over 100. Some 

 were obtained from localities in the lower part of the bay, others 

 from near the head of the bay. In the following instances an ap- 

 parently significant difference in parasite fauna in the two localities 

 was observed: (1) The tapeworm larva Glossocercus cyprinodontis^ 

 new genus and species, was found in considerable numbers in Cypri- 

 nodon variegatus in lagoons on Galveston Island but not in the upper 

 parts of the bay; (2) the acanthocephalan Atactorhynchus verecun- 

 dus, new genus and species, was found commonly in Gyprinodon 

 varlegatus in upper parts of the baj'^ but very sparsely in specimens 

 from Galveston Island; (3) the acanthocephalan Rhadinorhynchus 

 tenuicomis Van Cleave was found very commonly in several species 

 of fishes in lower parts of the bay but was not met with in fishes from 

 the upper bay. These differences are probably associated with the 

 local distribution of an avian definitive host in the first instance and 

 of arthropod intermediate hosts in the other instances. 



There are a number of striking features in connection with the 

 parasite fauna in general: (1) A great excess of immature over 

 adult stages of parasites; (2) a scarcity of flukes and of adult tape- 



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