Some Experimental Fish Hosts of the Strigeid Trematode Bolbophorus confusus and Effects of Temperature on the Cercaria and Metacercaria

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Abstract
Experimental studies were conducted on the digenetic trematode, Bolbophorus confusus (Krause, 1914) Dubois, 1935, to test host specificity in fish and the effect of temperature on the cercaria and metacercaria. Typical infections followed laboratory exposures of the following fishes: Salmo gairdneri, Salmo trutta, Salvelinus fontinalis, Prosopium williamsoni, Pimephales promelas, Hubopsis gracilis, Rhinichthys cataractae, Catostomus commersoni, Pantosteus platyrhynchus, Lepomis macro-chlrus, and Gambusta affinis. Cercarial penetration occurred in Ictalurus punctatus and Cottus bairdi, but metacercarial development was atypical. Maximum cercarial penetration of fish occurred between 66 and 85 F. Invasive ability was markedly reduced between 55 and 65 F and very few penetrations occurred below 54 F. Metacercariae developed rapidly at 70 F. No metacercarial development was found in fish exposed to cercariae at 70 F and then held at 40 to 42 F. Some metacercariae were observed to develop normally when fish treated in the above manner were returned to 70 F, after being held at 40 to 42 F for 1 month. Water temperature apparently plays a major role in the distribution of the metacercaria of B. confusus (common only in one lake) in southwestern Montana.