Abstract
The infection of the estuarine teleost fishes Mugil gaimardianus Desmarest, 1831 (Mugilidae), Arius phrygiatus Valenciennes, 1839 (Ariidae), Conodon nobilis Linnaeus, 1759 (Haemulidae), Cetengraulis edentulus Cuvier, 1829 (Engraulidae), and Anableps anableps Linnaeus, 1758 (Anablepidae) by praniza larvae of Gnathiidae (Crustacea, Isopoda) was studied in specimens fished off the Atlantic Ocean in Northeast of Pará State, near Bragança, Brazil. The highest infection prevalence value was found in Anableps anableps (42.3%) and the lowest in Conodon nobilis (9.1%). The mean intensity varied from 1 parasitein Conodon nobilis to 19.5 in Arius phrygiatus. A description of the larvae is provided. The morphology of the mouthparts is related to the blood sucking activity, and is compared with the characteristics of other gnathiidae species.
Highlights
Gnathiid isopods are crustacea which are free-living as adults and have juvenile stages, the praniza larvae, which are temporary ectoparasites feed intermittently on the blood and tissue fluids of fishes, both elasmobranchs and teleosts (Davies 1981)
Correspondence to: Daniel Guerreiro Diniz E-mail: danielguerreirodiniz@gmail.com and Grutter 2005) or even cause the death of the host (Mugridge and Stallybrass 1983). These parasites are not host specific and were described from a number of hosts worldwide (Smit and Basson 2002, Smit and Davies 2004, Jones and Grutter 2005, Genc et al 2005). In some cases they can be very abundant: in Dentex dentex from the Western Mediterranean the prevalence of praniza larvae reached 85%, with a mean intensity of 20 parasites per fish (González et al 2004), and in Epinephelus aeneus from the North-Eastern Mediterranean 57.1% of the specimens were infected presenting a mean intensity of infection of 43.5 larvae per host (Genc et al 2005)
The highest prevalence value was found in Anableps anableps (42.3%) and the lowest in Conodon nobilis (9.1%)
Summary
Gnathiid isopods are crustacea which are free-living as adults and have juvenile stages, the praniza larvae, which are temporary ectoparasites feed intermittently on the blood and tissue fluids of fishes, both elasmobranchs and teleosts (Davies 1981). The larval stages attach to the gills and skin and can cause focal lesions on the place of attachment (Heupel and Bennett 1999, González et al 2004, Marino et al 2004), reduce the haematocrit of the host These parasites are not host specific and were described from a number of hosts worldwide (Smit and Basson 2002, Smit and Davies 2004, Jones and Grutter 2005, Genc et al 2005). We describe the morphology of the praniza larvae, and identify the most infected fish species in order to subsequently study their blood parasites since praniza larvae have been shown to transmit haemogregarines to fish (Davies 1982, Davies et al 1994, Davies and Smit 2001), and the possibility of transmitting other blood parasites can not be ruled out
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