Food and parasitic nematodes of saithe, Pollachius virens (L.), from the Faroe Islands

Food items and metazoan parasites were identified from the stomachs of 80 yearlings and 150 two-year-old saithe (Pollachius virens (L.)), sampled from the coastal waters of the Faroe Islands. Of a total of 65 food items found, 47 were identified to species or genus. Yearlings fed mainly on Parathemisto spp., euphausiids, Pandalus sp. and Aphrodita aculeata, while the two-year-old saithe exploited mainly euphausiids (especially Meganyctiphanes norvegica), sandeels (Ammodytes spp.) and gastropods (especially Littorina spp.) Parasites found included the nematodes Anisakis simplex, Contracaecum sp., Hysterothylacium aduncum and Cucullanus cirratus; the copepod crustaceans Caligus sp. and Clavella sp.; the acanthocephalan Echinorhynchus gadi; a single digenean trematode; and a single cestode plerocercoid. Adult saithe from the Faroe Shelf preyed mainly on fish (Trisopterus esmarki, Microesistius poutassou and Melanogrammus aglefinus), and saithe from Faroe Bank on M. norvegica. A discussion on a possible transmission route of A. simplex larvae is given.