Parasites of the past: 90 years of change in parasitism for English sole

Historical data are extremely rare but essential for ascertaining whether contemporary infectious disease burdens are unusual. Natural history collections are a valuable source of such data, especially for reconstructing long timelines of parasite abundance. We quantified the parasites of 109 museum specimens of English sole (Parophrys vetulus), an economically important flatfish, collected from Puget Sound, Washington, over a 90-year period (1930-2019). We counted nearly 2,500 individual parasites representing 23 distinct species/morphotypes and four broad taxonomic groupings. Of the 12 taxa that were prevalent enough to include in the analysis, nine did not change in abundance over time, two (an acanthocephalan and a trematode) decreased, and one (another trematode) increased. By broad taxonomic grouping, nematodes, trematodes, and leeches exhibited no change over time, whereas acanthocephalans declined significantly. The diverging patterns among parasite taxa suggest a double-edged sword of responses to long-term ocean change: some parasites might be on the rise, while others are declining.

Automated summary

This study used parasite data from English sole specimens to reveal changes in parasite abundance over a 90-year period, indicating a dual response of parasite taxa to long-term ocean change.