Scavenging hagfish as a transport host of Anisakid nematodes

• First report of the genus Anisakis in scavenging hagfish.
• Anisakis pegreffii was the dominant nematode species in Eptatretus burgeri, E. yangi, and E. taiwanae.
• The intensity of nematodes was related to host length.
• We reveal a transmission pathway of Anisakis through these scavenging hagfish.
• Human anisakiasis may be caused by eating infected hagfish.

Hagfish are the most primitive craniates and scavengers, feeding on dead organisms as well as fish and invertebrates. Hagfish play an important ecological role in recycling nutrients, helping to recycle biomass from the upper water column. We investigated 265 specimens of four hagfish species, including Eptatretus burgeri, Eptatretus yangi, Eptatretus sheni and Eptatretus taiwanae from northeastern Taiwanese waters of the northwestern Pacific from November 2013 to June 2014. Eight species of Anisakid nematodes were identified: Anisakis pegreffii, Anisakis simplex s.s., a recombinant genotype of A. pegreffii and A. simplex s.s., Anisakis typica, Anisakis sp., Anisakis brevispiculata, Anisakis physeteris and Hysterothylacium amoyense. Anisakis sp. and H. amoyense represented new locality records. The prevalence, mean intensity and mean abundance of anisakid nematodes for all specimens were 21.51%, 5.39 larvae per fish and 1.16 larvae per fish, respectively. A. pegreffii was the most frequent species in E. burgeri, E. yangi and E. taiwanae, whereas in E. sheni, the dominant species was Anisakis sp. The number of nematodes was significantly related to the host length for E. burgeri and E. sheni, but was not related to the sex of the four hagfish species. This report of scavenging hagfish infected with Anisakid larvae suggests hagfish as a transport/paratenic host between cetaceans and piscivores. Anisakiasis may be caused by the consumption of infectious third-stage larvae in raw or undercooked hagfish.

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