Parasitization of invasive gobiids in the eastern part of the Central trans-European corridor of invasion of Ponto-Caspian hydrobionts

Four gobiid species, Babka gymnotrachelus, Neogobius melanostomus, Neogobius fluviatilis, and Proterorhinus semilunaris, were parasitologically studied in different localities of the Dnieper and Vistula river basins. The highest number of parasitic species was found in N. fluviatilis (35 taxa). The parasite fauna of N. melanostomus, B. gymnotrachelus, and P. semilunaris consists of 23, 22, and 15 taxa, respectively. The species accumulation curves show stable accumulation of parasite species by all four fish hosts along the studied part of the corridor, from the Dnieper Estuary to the Vistula River delta. The plot reveals also that the studied gobies lose the parasites common in the host native range and accept new parasites from the colonized area. In the case of N. melanostomus, it complies with the enemy release hypothesis, as the parasite load was low in the invaded area if compared to the native range. The three other alien gobies are vector for Gyrodactylus proterorhini in the Baltic basin. Moreover, populations of this alien monogenean tend to be more abundant in their new range in comparison with the Black Sea basin. In general, the number of parasite species in the colonized area was of the same rank as in the native one for N. fluviatilis, and even higher for B. gymnotrachelus. This results from accumulating new parasite species along the gobiid invasion route. In particular, the N. fluviatilis, B. gymnotrachelus, and P. semilunaris lost some of their native parasites and gained the local ones after entering the post-dam part of the Vistula River; it can be interpreted as a partial escape from parasites.