Abstract
Abstract. During two summers in Portugal, intertidal fishes were captured with anaesthetic at four sites along the Portuguese Atlantic West Coast. They were examined for the blood parasite Haemogregarina bigemina, for other haematozoa, and for haematophagous eetoparasitcs. Haemogregarina bigemina was found only in biennies, Lipophrys pholis (L.) and Coryphoblennius galerita (L.), and infections in these fish were similar. No other haematozoa were detected. Ectoparasites found attached to biennies included haematophagous praniza larvae of the isopod Gnathia maxillaris and a single leech. Gametocytes like those of fish haemogregarines were found in the anterior hindgut of 25% of pranizae and one contained gametoeytes and stages resembling early oocysts. The leech showed none of these stages. It is concluded that gnathiid pranizae should be considered as possible vectors of H. bigemina in Portugal.
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