Gill parasites of fish from two estuaries in northeastern Brazil: new hosts and geographical records.

Jéssica E.S.A Golzio,Rayssa C.G Praxedes,Anderson S Coutinho,Ana L Vendel,Mylena K Laurindo,Ana Carolina F Lacerda,Rubens R Madi,Joana Patrício,Júlia M Falkenberg,Cláudia M Melo,André Pessanha,Geza T.R Souza

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201720160883

Abstract

Parasites are important components of communities and constitute great part of the biological diversity found in ecosystems, providing valuable information about their hosts and the environment in which they live. However, despite its importance, parasitic diversity is still not well known in some regions of Brazil, especially with respect to fish parasites in the Northeast Region. The present study aims to perform the survey of gill parasites of fish from two tropical estuaries located in northeastern Brazil: Paraíba and Mamanguape rivers. Two collections were made in each estuary, one during the dry period (November / 2013) and the other during the rainy season (July / 2014). The fish were caught using a beach seine net, dragged along the main channel margin. After the identification, biometry and necropsy of the fish, their parasites were collected, stored and identified. For each species of parasite, the values of prevalence, mean intensity and mean abundance were calculated. Of the 882 examined fish, belonging to four species, 145 were parasitized by at least one species of parasite. In total, 18 taxa of parasites of the groups Monogenea, Digenea, Nematoda, Copepoda and Isopoda were recorded, being the copepod Acusicola brasiliensis the most abundant species of parasite.

Highlights

Considering the importance of parasites in terms of biomass (Kuris et al 2008) and as determinants of the structure of the animal communities (MinchellaAn Acad Bras Cienc (2017) 89 (3 Suppl.)webs (Lafferty et al 2008) among others
The estuarine fish community is represented by resident and migrant, marine and freshwater species, many of which present feeding and / or economic value to fishermen living near the estuary
882 hosts were analyzed from both estuaries, belonging to three species: Anchoa januaria (Steindachner, 1879) (Clupeiformes: Engraulidae), Atherinella brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) (Atheriniformes: Atherinopsidae) and Mugil curema Valenciennes, 1836 (Mugiliformes: Mugilidae)

Summary

Introduction

Considering the importance of parasites in terms of biomass (Kuris et al 2008) and as determinants of the structure of the animal communities (MinchellaAn Acad Bras Cienc (2017) 89 (3 Suppl.)webs (Lafferty et al 2008) among others. The estuarine fish community is represented by resident and migrant, marine and freshwater species, many of which present feeding and / or economic value to fishermen living near the estuary. Fishes use these environments during some stage of the life cycle, such as feeding and breeding areas of larvae and young (Blaber 2000) or even during the whole life cycle, in the case of resident species. Several studies have already been carried out on the biota of the estuaries of Mamanguape and Paraíba rivers, Northeast Region of Brazil (Leonel et al 2002, Xavier et al 2012, Alves et al 2016, Nóbrega-Silva et al 2016, Medeiros et al 2016, Dolbeth et al 2016), none of them have considered a ubiquitous component of these communities: fish parasites

Objectives

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Results