Abstract
This study aimed at identifying and quantifying the parasites of wild and cultured dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus. During a year and thereby all four seasons, 20 wild and 20 cultured groupers were examined for the presence of parasites, except in the last season, in which 19 wild and 20 cultured fish were examined, totalling 159 groupers analysed from Ubatuba, southeastern Brazil. Prevalence, mean intensity of infection, mean abundance and mean relative dominance were calculated. Five species of parasites were identified in fish from both origins: Pseudorhabdosynochus beverleyburtonae (Monogenea), Neobenedenia melleni (Monogenea), Pseudempleurosoma sp. (Monogenea), Helicometrina nimia (Digenea) and larvae of Contracaecum sp. (Nematoda). The prevalence of ectoparasites, in most cases, was higher than endoparasites. The most abundant parasite was the monogenea Pseudorhabdosynochus beverleyburtonae in both wild and cultured fish, along all seasons. Neobenedenia melleni was observed in wild and cultured fish in all seasons, with a gradual increase in the number of parasites from the coldest to the hottest seasons, with the highest prevalence and mean intensity in the summer. Helicometrina nimia was found in all seasons in both wild and cultured fish, except for summer, where its presence was detected only in wild fish. Pseudempleurosoma sp. and larvae of Contracaecum sp. showed low prevalence occurring in wild and cultured fish in the autumn and spring, respectively. This study revealed high intensities of potentially pathogenic parasites that could favour disease outbreaks in culture conditions.
Highlights
Dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834) is a serranid teleost that inhabits rocky and protected areas, usually in shallow waters, eventually reaching a depth of 200 metres, widely distributed, from the southern coast of Brazil, across the Mediterranean and East Atlantic in the British Islands to South Africa, Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands (Heemstra and Randall, 1993).Groupers are fish of great commercial value and they constitute an important item in coastal fisheries in the tropics
The species of monogenean ectoparasites identified in grouper were Pseudorhabdosynochus beverleyburtonae (Oliver, 1984) Kritsky and Beverley-Burton, 1986 (Diplectanidae) in the gills and Neobenedenia melleni (MacCallum, 1927) Yamaguti, 1963 (Capsalidae) on the
Studies on the parasitic fauna of marine fish have shown that dominant parasites in a particular host species tend to be the same, regardless of whether the fish is wild or cultured
Summary
Dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834) is a serranid teleost that inhabits rocky and protected areas, usually in shallow waters, eventually reaching a depth of 200 metres, widely distributed, from the southern coast of Brazil, across the Mediterranean and East Atlantic in the British Islands to South Africa, Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands (Heemstra and Randall, 1993).Groupers are fish of great commercial value and they constitute an important item in coastal fisheries in the tropics. Due to the decline of the fishing of grouper, and several species of marine fish, mariculture has been used to increase fish production. Considered as an economically important species, dusky grouper is a potential candidate for marine aquaculture in Brazil (Sanches et al, 2006). Conditions associated with intensive aquaculture as confinement, overpopulation and stress may facilitate the transmission of parasites and increase parasite intensity in farmed fish (Ogawa et al, 1995). Such diseases restrict the development and sustainability of the aquaculture industry and lead to direct production losses (Bondad-Reantaso et al, 2005)
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