Parasitic fauna in hybrid tambacu from fish farms

Ronilson Macedo Silva,Renata Das Graças Barbosa Marinho,Marcos Tavares-Dias,Márcia Kelly Reis Dias,Maycon Willian Reis Dias

doi:10.1590/s0100-204x2013000800034

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the parasitic fauna of hybrid tambacu (Colossoma macropomum x Piaractus mesopotamicus) from fish farms and the host-parasite relationship. A hundred and fourteen fish were collected from four fish farms in Macapá, in the state of Amapá, Brazil, 80.7% of which were infected by: Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ciliophora); Piscinoodinium pillulare (Dinoflagellida); Anacanthorus spatulatus, Notozothecium janauachensis, and Mymarothecium viatorum (Monogenoidea); Neoechinorhynchus buttnerae (Acanthocephala); Cucullanus colossomi (Nematoda); Perulernaea gamitanae (Lernaeidae); and Proteocephalidae larvae (Cestoda). A total of 8,136,252 parasites were collected from the examined fish. This is the first record of N. buttnerae, C. colossomi, N. janauachensis, M. viatorum, and Proteocephalidae for hybrid tambacu in Brazil. Ichthyophthirius multifiliis was the most prevalent parasite, whereas endohelminths were the less. A positive correlation was observed between number of I. multifiliis and total length and weight of fish, as well as between number of P. gamitanae and total length. The infection by I. multifiliis had association with the parasitism by Monogenoidea. Low water quality contributes to high parasitism of hybrid tambacu by ectoparasites, which, however, does not influence the relative condition factor of fish.

Highlights

Brazil has a large variety of native fish species with potential for cultivation, but most of them are not suited to captivity, since their eating habits, density, and appropriate management are unknown
The objective of this work was to evaluate the parasitic fauna of hybrid tambacu (Colossoma macropomum x Piaractus mesopotamicus) from fish farms and the host‐parasite relationship
From October 2009 to September 2010, 114 hybrid tambacu were collected in four fish farms of the municipality of Macapá, in the state of Amapá, Brazil

Summary

Introduction

Brazil has a large variety of native fish species with potential for cultivation, but most of them are not suited to captivity, since their eating habits, density, and appropriate management are unknown. In Brazil, the tambacu hybrid, resulting from the crossbreeding of female Colossoma macropomum Cuvier, 1818 (tambaqui) and male Piaractus mesopotamicus Holmberg, 1887 (pacu), was created to assemble in one single species the qualities of these two. Et al, 2001a, 2001b, 2007; Martins et al, 2002), and grows faster than P. mesopotamicus (Tavares‐Dias et al, 2007). General characteristics such as shape, size, diet, and grayish color are closer to the parental tambaqui. In 2010, the production of this hybrid was of 21,621.4 tons, with cultivation in several states of the North, Northeast, Southeast, and Central‐West regions of Brazil (Boletim estatístico da pesca e aquicultura , 2012). The state of Amapá, in the North, contributed little to this production, it has great potential

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