What is Anisakis? »Its Definition and Meaning [2019]

Anisakis is a genus of parasitic nematodes that have life cycles that affect marine fish and mammals.They are infectious to humans and cause anisakiasis.People who produce immunoglobulin E, in response to this The parasite may subsequently have an allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis, after eating fish infected with Anisakis species.The Anisakis genus was defined in 1845 by Felix Dujardin as a subgenera of the Ascaris Linnaeus genus, 1758.

Anisakis species have complex life cycles that pass through a series of hosts throughout their lives. eggs are incubated in seawater and larvae are meals by crustaceans, usually eufausides.Infected crustaceans are subsequently eaten by fish or squid, and the nematodes are buried in the wall of the intestine and encyst in a protective layer, usually on the outside of the visceral organs, but occasionally in the muscle or under the skin.The cycle of life is completed when a marine mammal eats an infected fish, such as a whale, seal, lion marine, dolphin and other animals such as seabirds and sharks.

Nematodes in the intestine , feed, grow, mate and release eggs in the water of sea ​​in the feces of the host.As the gut of a marine mammal is functionally very similar to that of a human being, Anisakis species can infect humans who eat raw or undercooked fish.

The known diversity of the genus has greatly increased in the last 20 years, with the advent of modern genetic techniques in species identification.It was discovered that each final host species had its own « kind of brother »biochemically and genetically identifiable from Anisakis, which is reproductively isolated.This finding has allowed the use of the proportion of different sister species in a fish as an indicator of the identity of the community in fish populations.

Anisakis share the common characteristics of all nematodes; the vermiform body plan, round in the cross section and the lack of segmentation .The body cavity is reduced to a pseudoco.La mouth is located in the anterior part and is surrounded by projections used in feeding and the sensation, with the anus slightly displaced from the posterior.The squamous epithelium secretes a layered cuticle to protect the body from digestive juices .