Meeting Abstract

76.6  Tuesday, Jan. 6  The physiological costs of fish gill remodeling following infection by freshwater mussel larvae. DUBANSKY, Benjamin D.*; GALVEZ, Fernando; Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge bduban1@lsu.edu

Larval freshwater mussels (glochida) are obligate ectoparasites, infecting the gill epithelium of host fish. Following attachment, glochidia are fully encapsulated by the surrounding host epithelium, where they develop for a period of days to months. Studies in our laboratory are investigating the process of fish gill remodeling during this ectoparasitic infection of freshwater mussel glochidia. The physiological mechanisms associated with this process are poorly understood. Likewise, little is known on how alterations in host physiology influence the success of glochidial attachment and subsequent metamorphoses. This presentation will describe results from laboratory infections of bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) with the glochidia from the paper pondshell (Utterbackia imbecilis.) Glochidial infection has been shown to elicit a significant impairment of ionoregulatory balance and other hematological effects in infected bluegill. Current work is utilizing whole-animal and cell physiological approaches to assess the effects of glochidial infection on host fish, and ascertaining how alterations in host physiology, such as hormone supplementation, influence the process of fish gill remodeling following glochidial attachment.