Abstract
This paper describes the first study on parasite diversity in Auchenipterus nuchalis Spix & Agassiz, 1829 (Auchenipteridae). In 31 fish caught in a tributary of the Amazon River, 10,708 parasites were collected, such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Piscinoodinium pilullare, Cosmetocleithrum striatuli, metacercariae of Posthodiplostomum sp, and larvae and adults of Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) inopinatus. These parasite species showed aggregated dispersion, except for C. striatuli, which had a uniform dispersion. The component community of parasites showed a low Brillouin diversity (0.67 ± 0.27), low species richness (3.5 ± 0.8) and low evenness (0.43 ± 0.17), and it was characterized by the presence of species with high prevalence and abundance. Protozoan species were the prevalent parasites, which may be a consequence of the host’s mode of life, while the low presence of endoparasites in A. nuchalis suggests that this fish may occupy an intermediate trophic level in the food web. These data represent the first record of such parasite species for this host.
Highlights
Auchenipteridae are Neotropical Siluriformes that are distributed in 113 species and 16 genera, including the genus Auchenipterus Valenciennes, 1840 (Froese & Pauly, 2016)
Specimens of A. nuchalis examined had 19.9 ± 1.6 cm and 41.4 ± 11.6 g, and all were parasitized by species of protozoans and/or metazoans, such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis Fouquet, 1876; Piscinoodinium pilullare Schäperclaus, 1954, Lom, 1981 (Protozoa); Cosmetocleithrum striatuli Abdallah, Azevedo and Luque, 2012 (Monogenoidea), Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) inopinatus Travassos, Artigas and Pereira, 1928 (Nematoda) and metacercariae of Posthodiplostomum sp. (Digenea)
The predominance was of hosts parasitized by four parasite species (Figure 2)
Summary
Auchenipteridae are Neotropical Siluriformes that are distributed in 113 species and 16 genera, including the genus Auchenipterus Valenciennes, 1840 (Froese & Pauly, 2016) They inhabit still waters and have nocturnal and pelagic habits (Ferraris Jr, 2003; Santos, Mérona, Juras, & Jégu, 2004). Biological Sciences distribution restricted to South America, mostly in the Amazon River basin, lower Tocantins River and in lower courses of some rivers from Suriname, French Guiana (Ferraris Jr, 2003; Froese & Pauly, 2016) and others countries from South America This species reaches the maximum length of 25 cm. (Insaurralde & Romero, 2013) and Creptotrema lamothei (Curran, 2008) Such works are taxonomic studies and there are no reports on the parasites fauna of this Amazonian fish. The aim of this paper was to provide information on the parasitic community and infracommunities in A. nuchalis of the Igarapé Fortaleza River, in the state of Amapá, northern Brazil
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