Acanthocephalus (meaning "spine head") is a genus of parasitic worms. One of the species in this genus is Acanthocephalus anguillae (Mueller, 1780), a fish parasite. Acanthocephalans are also found in humans and primates, causing a common zoonotic infection called "human acanthocephaliasis". While pathogens can be transferred among animals and humans, the main source of human acanthocephaliasis is the diet of infected raw fish and insects (Lotfy, 2020). Because they are lacking circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems, Acanthocephalus are exceptionally well-adapted to a symbiotrophic existence (Margulis & Chapman, 2009).
Life cycle There are five steps in which Acanthocephala cycles through life; (1)Their eggs shed in feces. (2)These eggs are then ingested by their host. (3)The definitive host then gets infected due to ingesting the eggs from the first host. (4)The definitive host is either rats or raccoons and therefore, in this step the Acanthocephala matures in the small intestine. (5)Lastly, the Acanthocephala matures and also produces eggs inside the definitive host (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019).
Species Contains the following species: Acanthocephalus acutispinus Machado, 1891 Acanthocephalus acutulus Van Cleave, 1931 Acanthocephalus alabamensis Amin and Williams, 1983 Acanthocephalus anguillae (Mueller, 1780) An intestinal parasite, it is found both in the Baltic Sea and along the coast of California, where it is often found in the fore- and mid-gut of the brown and rainbow trouts. Acanthocephalus anthuris (Dujardin, 1845) Acanthocephalus balkanicus Batchvoarov, 1974 Acanthocephalus breviprostatus Kennedy, 1982 Acanthocephalus bufonis Burton & Pichelin, 1999 Acanthocephalus clavula (Dujardin, 1845) Acanthocephalus correalimai Machado, 1970 Acanthocephalus criniae Anow, 1971 Acanthocephalus curtus (Achenrov, et al., 1941) Acanthocephalus dirus (Van Cleave, 1931) Instead of having its eggs expelled from the host in feces, the gravid female detaches itself from the host's digestive tract and sinks to the bottom, where her body is consumed by the species' intermediate host, Caecidotea intermedius, a species of isopod. Upon hatching, the larvae begin to alter their host's behavior. This will manifest in lighter pigmentation and an increased attraction to predators, such as A. dirus''' primary hosts. Acanthocephalus domerguei (Golvan, et al., 1972 Acanthocephalus echigoensis Fujita, 1920 Found both in California and in Thailand, it has been known to parasitize the sockeye salmon, chum salmon, rainbow trout, and barramundi. Acanthocephalus elongatus Van Cleave, 1937 Acanthocephalus falcatus (Froelich, 1789) Acanthocephalus fluviatilis Paperna, 1964 Acanthocephalus galaxii Hine, 1977 Acanthocephalus goaensis Jain and Gupta, 1981 Acanthocephalus gotoi Van Cleave, 1925 Acanthocephalus graciliacanthus Meyer, 1932 Acanthocephalus haranti Golvan and Oliver, 1969 Acanthocephalus hastae Bayliss, 1944 Acanthocephalus japonicus (Fukui and Morisita, 1936) Acanthocephalus kaskmirensis Datta, 1936 Acanthocephalus kubulensis Datta and Soota, 1956 Acanthocephalus lucidus Van Cleave, 1925 Acanthocephalus lucii (Müller, 1776) It is native to Europe. Acanthocephalus lutzi (Linstow, 1896) Acanthocephalus madagascariensis Golvan, 1965 Acanthocephalus minor Yamaguti, 1935 Acanthocephalus nanus Van Cleave, 1925 Acanthocephalus opsariichthydis Acanthocephalus parallelcementglandatus Amin, Heckmann & Ha, 2014 Acanthocephalus parallelotestis Achmerov, et al., 1941 Acanthocephalus paronai (Condorelli, 1897) Acanthocephalus pesteri Tadros, 1966 Acanthocephalus ranae (Schrank, 1788) Acanthocephalus rauschi (Schmidt, 1969) Acanthocephalus reunionensis Smales, Sasal & Taraschewski, 2007 Acanthocephalus sameguiensis Acanthocephalus serendibensis Crusz and Mills, 1970 Acanthocephalus srilankensis Crusz and Ching, 1976 Acanthocephalus tahleguahensis Oetinger and Buckner, 1976 Acanthocephalus tenuirostris (Achmerov, et al., 1941) Acanthocephalus tigrinae (Shipley, 1903) Acanthocephalus tumescens'' (Linstow, 1896)
References
Lotfy, Wael M. (2020). "Neglected rare human parasitic infections: Part III: Acanthocephaliasis". Department of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Matrouh University, Egypt, Vol. 13.