Widespread parasite infections in living resident killer whales in the Northeast Pacific Ocean

Abstract

Multiple populations of resident ecotype killer whales (Orcinus orca ater) inhabit the Northeast Pacific, but the southern resident killer whale (SRKW) population is the most at-risk. SRKWs were listed as endangered in the United States in 2005 and have since shown little sign of recovery. Several factors have been identified as key threats to this population, and previously published studies suggest the population may be energetically stressed. Underlying health risks, such as parasitism, may be contributing to this population’s failure to recover, but little is known about parasite infections in living individuals from natural killer whale populations. To assess the prevalence of internal parasite infections in Northeastern Pacific killer whales, we examined scat from endangered SRKW (n = 25) compared to two conspecific populations of resident killer whales that are not in decline: northern resident (NRKW, n = 2) and southern Alaska resident killer whales (SARKW, n = 7), and one offshore killer whale (OKW, n = 1). We analyzed 35 fecal samples collected from 27 wild killer whales using both microscopic identification of parasite eggs and genetic detection of parasites through DNA metabarcoding. We used body condition indices derived from concurrent aerial photogrammetry to evaluate whether parasite infection status was associated with individual body condition. We found that most individuals sampled (94%) were positive for Anisakis spp. – a parasitic nematode known to inhabit the intestines of cetaceans. These infections were detected across populations, and were not correlated with body condition, based on limited paired data. These results suggest that Anisakis infection is widespread among resident killer whales of the Northeast Pacific. The widespread detections of Anisakis among the samples examined here emphasizes the need for further work to understand the potential health impacts of parasitic infections on individual killer whales, and potential synergistic effects with other environmental stressors.