Galactosomum
Genus of flukes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Galactosomum is a genus of flukes in the family Heterophyidae. There are currently 28 recognised species within the genus. They mainly infect aquatic birds, but often infest fish as larvae.[1] Three species are known to use marine mammals as hosts.
| Galactosomum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Class: | Trematoda |
| Order: | Plagiorchiida |
| Family: | Heterophyidae |
| Genus: | Galactosomum Looss, 1899 |
Description
The excised spherical metacercaria is 2.7–4.9 mm long.[2] Generally, only one is found per fish.[3]
Life cycle
Some species of Galactosomum cause infected fish to swim closer to the surface and colorfully flash their underbellies.[4] In fish, symptoms can be similar to those of whirling disease caused by the unrelated parasite Myxobolus cerebralis.[3] Gastropods hosting select species suffer from sensory impairment due to infestation. This makes these prey animals more likely to be consumed by aquatic birds, providing a host for the parasite to reach the mature stage of its life cycle. Galactosomum cannot survive in human hosts.[4]
Species
- Galactosomum baylisi (Gohar, 1930)
- Galactosomum bearupi Pearson, 1973
- Galactosomum cochlear (Diesing, 1850) Travassos, 1929
- Galactosomum cochleariforme (Rudolphi, 1819) Pratt, 1911
- Galactosomum darbyi Price, 1934
- Galactosomum dollfusi Pearson, 1973
- Galactosomum echinatum (Timon-David, 1955)
- Galactosomum erinaceum (Poirier, 1886)
- Galactosomum fregatae (Prudhoe, 1949)
- Galactosomum humbargari Park, 1936
- Galactosomum johnsoni (Price, 1934)
- Galactosomum lacteum (Jägerskiöld, 1896)
- Galactosomum linguiforme Anantaraman, 1974
- Galactosomum nicolai (Isaichikov, 1927)
- Galactosomum palawanense Fischthal & Kuntz, 1972
- Galactosomum phalacrocoracis Yamaguti, 1939
- Galactosomum puffini Yamaguti, 1941
- Galactosomum renincola Pearson, 1973
- Galactosomum sanaense Kobayashi, 1942
- Galactosomum semifuscum (Olsson, 1876)
- Galactosomum sinuilactis Pearson, 1973
- Galactosomum spinetum (Braun, 1901)
- Galactosomum stelleri Dailey, Demaree & Critchfield, 2002
- Galactosomum timondavidi Pearson & Prévot, 1971
- Galactosomum ubelakeri (Dailey, 1969) Pearson, 1977
- Galactosomum ussuriense Oshmarin, 1963
- Galactosomum witenbergi Anantaraman, 1974
- Galactosomum yehi (Dissanaike, 1961) Pearson, 1973
