The spectroscopic monitoring programs carried out by the Spectroscopy Group of the German "Vereinigung der Sternfreunde" are reviewed in light of current research. Potential benefits for the professional community in collaborating and obtain long-term monitoring data otherwise unaccessible due to telescope time restrictions are summarized. The contribution highlights results on specific objects of wide interest, such as the well investigated Be stars ≥ Tauri or the S Doradus type variable P Cygni.
The endoparasitic helminth communities of the European eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), were investigated in four meanders, cut off from the rivers Leie and Scheldt in western Handers, Belgium. Six species of helminths (2 cestodes, 2 nematodes and 2 acanthocephalans) were found. The dominant parasite species was the nematode Anguillicola crassus (Kuwahara, Niimi et Itagaki, 1974) infecting 79% of the eel population with intensities up to 112 specimens per fish. At two localities no acanthocephalans could be found, whereas these parasites were very common at the other sites. The prevalence, mean intensity, intensity and abundance, their correlation to the body length, and the frequency distributions were analysed. The site selection of parasites is in relation to food composition and feeding habits of eels, physiological and structural differences in the intestine and possible interspecific competition were discussed.