Reduction and variability of trunk spines in the acanthocephalan Corynosoma cetaceum:: the role of physical constraints on attachment

In this study, we investigated a functional trade-off between trunk attachment and trunk-spine development in the acanthocephalan Corynosoma cetaceum. The worms live attached to the stomach and upper intestine of their cetacean definitive hosts, using the proboscis and spiny foretrunk as the main holdfast; the spiny hindtrunk can also attach by bending ventrally. When the hindtrunk bends, ventral compression generates an anterior fold (AF) and a posterior fold (PF). A morphological analysis based on 7,823 individuals collected from 10 franciscana dolphins, Pontoporia blainvillei, revealed that spines were smaller and more variable in size and occurrence in the folds than on neighboring areas; the growth of fold spines seemed to be inhibited to various degrees. Spines were more reduced in the AF than ill the PF and spines of both folds were more reduced in females than ill males. Patterns of reduction appeared to be directly related to the intensity of fold compression associated with hindtrunk bending. Fold compression could induce plastic inhibition of spine growth, and/or could make fold spines maladaptive, spines being reduced by natural selection. Apparently, fold spines neither contact the substrate, nor are they exposed to the environment when the hindtrunk attaches. Therefore, fold spines could have reduced, or lost, their primary function, at least in the definitive host. The reduction and variability of spines in C. cetaceum seem to be unique among Corynosoma species.