Abstract
The poorly known Clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) is a small oceanic cetacean distributed in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. In this study, we report, for the first time, a vagrant individual of Clymene dolphin in Argentina (Rada Tilly) that represents the current southern-most record for this cetacean species. We provide a molecular identification of the dolphin, based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, generated from DNA extracted from its metazoan parasites. Three prey species, namely Argentine hake, Patagonian squid and lobster krill were identified from hard pieces collected in the stomach. Seven metazoan parasite taxa (three in adult stage, one immature stage and three in larval stage) were identified using morphological and molecular data, i.e., the digenean Pholeter gastrophilus (new host record), the cestodes Tetrabothrius (Tetrabothrius) forsteri, Clistobothrium grimaldii unidentified phyllobothriid plerocercoids, the nematodes Anisakis pegreffii (new host record), Halocercus delphini and the acanthocephalan Corynosoma australe (new host record). Our study provides the first molecular exploration of the metazoan parasite diversity in delphinids from the southwestern Atlantic, and contributes significantly to understand the poorly known parasite fauna of the Clymene dolphin.
Highlights
The poorly known Clymene dolphin, Stenella clymene (Gray, 1850) (Cetacea: Delphinidae) is a small oceanic dolphin, endemic to tropical and warm-temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico (Fertl et al, 2003; Jefferson, 2018; Briceño et al, 2020 and references therein)
The most comprehensive parasitological study of Clymene dolphins was provided by Carvalho et al (2010), who reported 11 metazoan parasites, namely Anisakis sp., Bolbosoma sp., Halocercus brasiliensis, Halocercus sp., Clistobothrium grimaldii (Moniez, 1899) [as Monorygma grimaldii (Moniez, 1899)], Clistobothrium delphini (Bosc, 1802) [as Phyllobothrium delphini (Bosc, 1802)], Scolex pleuronectis (Müller, 1788), S. pseudorcae, Strobilocephalus triangularis (Diesing, 1850), Tetrabothrius (Tetrabothrius) forsteri (Krefft, 1871) and Trigonocotyle sp. from 16 dolphins stranded along the northeastern coast of Brazil
Our study demonstrated that dolphin DNA can be extracted and successfully amplified from its metazoan parasites
Summary
The poorly known Clymene dolphin, Stenella clymene (Gray, 1850) (Cetacea: Delphinidae) is a small oceanic dolphin, endemic to tropical and warm-temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico (Fertl et al, 2003; Jefferson, 2018; Briceño et al, 2020 and references therein). Information about the food habits of Clymene dolphin is scarce, with data obtained from very few individuals stranded or incidentally captured off the Gulf of Mexico, the northeaster coast of Brazil or the North Iberian Peninsula (Jefferson and Curry, 2003; Pis-Millán et al, 2019). The most comprehensive parasitological study of Clymene dolphins was provided by Carvalho et al (2010), who reported 11 metazoan parasites, namely Anisakis sp., Bolbosoma sp., Halocercus brasiliensis, Halocercus sp., Clistobothrium grimaldii (Moniez, 1899) [as Monorygma grimaldii (Moniez, 1899)], Clistobothrium delphini (Bosc, 1802) [as Phyllobothrium delphini (Bosc, 1802)], Scolex pleuronectis (Müller, 1788), S. pseudorcae, Strobilocephalus triangularis (Diesing, 1850), Tetrabothrius (Tetrabothrius) forsteri (Krefft, 1871) and Trigonocotyle sp. Azevedo et al (2017) examined, based on an integrative taxonomy approaches, the diversity of anisakid nematodes from 13 Clymene dolphins stranded on the northeastern coast of Brazil and reported adults and larvae of Anisakis typica (Diesing, 1860) and Anisakis sp
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