A genomic approach to study parasites from invasive Nile tilapia in Africa (R-9463)

Nile tilapia is an important aquaculture fish, introduced in many countries, where it can threaten indigenous fish. Invasive species are the second leading cause of species extinction and endangerment worldwide, in part through introducing alien parasites, but parasitism in this context is understudied. Nile tilapia introduction in Africa is ill-documented; its impact on native fauna in parasitological terms is largely unknown. We propose to study monogenean parasites of Nile tilapia and native relatives in Africa. To this end, we propose to combine various high-throughput sequencing approaches and compare our results with ongoing genomic work on the hosts. This research will improve diagnostics of fish parasites, and our understanding of parasitism in the context of invasion biology.

Keywords:cichlids, diagnostics, flatworms, invasive alien species, Monogenea

Disciplines:Animal morphology, anatomy and physiology