Some Condition Characteristics of a Yellow Perch Population Heavily Parasitized by Clinostomum marginatum

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Abstract
A study was made of the relationship between parasite burden (metacercarae of C. marginatum) and robustness (coeff. of condition[long dash]K) of the perch in a small lake sample containing 2200 fish ranging from 1 to 7 years of age. Weights, lengths, and numbers of parasites were determined, the latter by counting worms visible to the naked eye in serial cross sections. No correlation could be found between numbers of parasites and condition of the fish. The K values were lowest in fish of intermediate size, highest for both smaller and larger fish. The avg. number of parasites per fish showed a regular arithmetical increase with age and size of the fish. It was thought that older fish witn a neavy parasite burden might be more susceptible to lack of O2 than young smaller fish with fewer parasites.

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