The invasive Asian fish tapeworm, Bothriocephalus acheilognathi Yamaguti, 1934, in the Chagres River/Panama Canal drainage, Panama

摘要

The invasive and potentially pathogenic Asian fish tapeworm, Bothriocephalus acheilognathi, is reported for the first time from the vicinity of the Panama Canal zone, a region of international economic and environmental significance. The tapeworm was found in two cichlid species, Aequidens coeruleopunctatus and Cryptoheros panamensis in two tributaries of the Chagres River / Panama Canal drainage, Soberania National Park area, Panama. Sequence data from the ITS-1 region of the rRNA genome corroborate the identifications based on diagnostic morphological features. The tapeworm was not found in 201 of the other 15 species of fish belonging to 6 families that were collected during the same time. Using historical records, we argue that the tapeworm was likely introduced with the stocking of one of its principal hosts, grass carp, during early attempts to control aquatic vegetation in the Canal zone, and we predict that it is probably more widely distributed in the area, especially in Gatun Lake. The impact of this tapeworm on the native fish resources of Panama remains unknown, but is noteworthy for its presence in an already ecologically impacted region of the Neotropics.