Rhadinorhynchus is a parasitic genus within the order Echinorhynchida (family Rhadinorhynchidae), comprising over 50 species found in marine ecosystems. The life cycle of Rhadinorhynchus species generally includes marine fish as definitive hosts and zooplankton as intermediate hosts. During a routine marine parasitological survey carried out in temperate waters off the NE Atlantic, we recorded adults (from fish) and cystacanth...

Most research on cetacean swimming has been conducted on captive dolphins due to limited accessibility to wild cetaceans. Epibiotic barnacles have been used as indirect evidence of cetacean hydrodynamics, given their lifelong association with cetaceans and dependence on water flow. Previous studies suggested that the spatial distribution of the barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis on the tail flukes of striped dolphins (i.e., hig...

Despite their high pathogenicity, limited knowledge is available on intrahost migration pathways and microhabitat distribution of pseudaliid lungworms. In this study, the distribution of Halocercus delphini in the lungs of the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba , was analyzed on three scales: between the right and left lungs, within the lungs, and between worm clusters. Evidence of a relationship between the distribution o...

Temporal and geographical changes in the infections of intestinal helminths of striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba were investigated in waters off the Spanish Mediterranean coast based on a sample of 233 dolphins stranded during 1982-2016. The influence of host-related factors (length and sex) and seasonality was also examined. Four helminth species had a prevalence > 5%, including adults of three cestodes, i.e, Trigonocot...

We analyzed patterns of aggregation and spatial distribution of the epizoic barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis on the flukes of Mediterranean striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba , assessing its potential use as an indicator of the host's hydrodynamics based on data from 55 dolphins. Barnacles occurred along the trailing edge with the cirri oriented towards the oncoming flow. Nearest neighbor analyses suggested that new recr...

The Mugilidae are a group of fish with a great interest for aquaculture due to their omnivorous profile, rapid growth, and resistance to environmental variations. The selection of feed ingredients for these species is currently focused on an extensive use of plant by-products, with this being limited by their content in anti-nutritive factors (mainly phytate and non-starch polysaccharides; NSPs). Nevertheless, specific enzymes...

There are numerous reports of billfishes spearing objects, marine organisms, and even humans. Whether or not this behaviour is intentional and, if so, what is its functional meaning, are open questions. In 2016, an adult blue shark (Prionace glauca) was found to be killed by a juvenile swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the western Mediterranean. Here we report on three more recent cases involving both species in the same area. In...

Gelatinous zooplankton, including jellyfish, ctenophores and pelagic tunicates, constitutes fragile marine animals that live in the water column, and represent an important resource for marine food webs through their seasonal pulses. Although there is scarce evidence on the occurrence of gelatinous zooplankton in stomach contents of apex, endothermic predators such as cetaceans, the ecological significance of such observations...

The intestine of 52 (28 males and 24 females) striped dolphins ( Stenella coeruleoalba ) from western Mediterranean waters was examined for helminths. Animals were found stranded along the Spanish coasts during the morbillivirus epizootic in 1990. In accordance with observations from other pelagic tetrapods, including cetaceans from other geographical regions, the intestinal helminth community was depauperate. Four helminth sp...

A new species of the digenean family Brachycladiidae Odhner, 1905 is described from the bile ducts of a Gervais’ beaked whale Mesoplodon europaeus Gervais (Ziphiidae) stranded on the North Atlantic coast of Florida. These parasites were assigned to Brachycladium Looss, 1899 and differed from other species of the genus in the relative size of the oral and ventral suckers, the form and size of the eggs and their extremely small...