Metazoan Parasites of the Mediterranean Garfish &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Belone belone gracilis&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; (Teleostei: Belonidae) as a Tool for Stock Discrimination

Manel Châari,Lassâd Neifar,Mariam Feki

doi:10.4236/ojms.2015.53027

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to provide a current survey of metazoan parasites of the Mediterranean garfish Belone belone gracilis Lowe, 1839 off Tunisian coast and their potential use as biological tags for discriminate stocks. Parasitological analysis of 453 specimens of B. b. gracilis along the eastern Tunisian coast revealed the presence of ten species of metazoan parasites: one monogenean Axine belones Abildgaard, 1794; four digeneansLecithostaphylus retroflexus (Molin, 1859), Tergestia acanthocephala (Stossich, 1887) Stossich, 1899, Aponurus laguncula Looss, 1907 and Condylocotyla pilodora(metacercaria) Pearson et Prévot, 1985; one copepod Bomolochus bellonesBurmeister, 1835; two isopods Irona nana Schioedte et Meinert, 1884 andNerocila orbignyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1832); 1 acanthocephalan Telosentis exiguus (Von Linstow, 1901) and one nematod Anisakid larvae. Discriminant analysis using parasites as biological tags, allowed identifying two stocks ofB. b. gracilis. Digenea L. retroflexus, A. laguncula and Anisakid larvae were the most important species in determining the position of sampled fishes from the central coast off Tunisia. Metacercaria C. pilodora characterized specimens from the Southern coast off Tunisia. These results were corroborated by comparing parameters of prevalence and mean abundance between zones. Discriminant analysis used for the separation of B. b. gracilis between seasons in both localities showed that a seasonal variation affected mainly specimens from the center suggesting seasonal move of fishes.

Highlights

IntroductionBelone belone (Linnaeus, 1761) is an epipelagic teleost marine fish widely distributed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Three subspecies have been recognised according to their geographic distribution: B. b
Garfish, Belone belone (Linnaeus, 1761) is an epipelagic teleost marine fish widely distributed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
A total of 453 specimens of Belone belone gracilis were randomly sampled from local fishermen using gillnets in common fishing areas off eastern Tunisian coast: the central zone (Gulf of Hammamett) and the southern zone (Gulf of Gabes) (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Belone belone (Linnaeus, 1761) is an epipelagic teleost marine fish widely distributed in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Three subspecies have been recognised according to their geographic distribution: B. b. Belone (Linnaeus, 1761) restricted to the north-eastern Atlantic; B. b. Gracilis Lowe, 1839 mainly distributed in the Mediterranean Sea [1]. Nine metazoan parasite species have been reported in the Mediterranean subspecies B. b. Oktener (2005) and Keser et al (2007) recorded two species of parasites in the Black sea subspecies B. b. Rynkiewicz (1970) and Grabda (1981) signalized eleven metazoan parasite species in the north east Atlantic subspecies B. b. Belone and a geographic variation of its parasites were shown by Grabda (1981) [15] [16] Rynkiewicz (1970) and Grabda (1981) signalized eleven metazoan parasite species in the north east Atlantic subspecies B. b. belone and a geographic variation of its parasites were shown by Grabda (1981) [15] [16]

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