Records of new localities and hosts for crustacean parasites in fish from the eastern Amazon in northern Brazil.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate parasites crustacean fauna in Arapaima gigas, Cichla monoculus, Cichla ocellaris, Cichla jariina, Satanoperca jurupari, Leporinus friderici, Leporinus fasciatus, Hoplias malabaricus, Phractocephalus hemioliopterus, Serrasalmus altispinis, Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum and Potamotrygon motoro of the State Amapá and Pará, in northern Brazil. A total of 242 parasites, including Argulus elongatus, Argulus multicolor,Argulus juparanaensis, Argulus nattereri, Dolops discoidalis, Dolops longicauda, Braga patagonica, Braga fluviatilis, Livoneca guianensis and undetermined Lernaeidae, were collected from these hosts. The Argulus species had the greatest richness among the community of parasitic crustaceans. There was a low abundance of parasites among the hosts, other than D. discoidalis, was most abundant in the integument of A. gigas and P. tigrinum. Finally, the present study reported nine new hosts for the crustacean parasite species and expanded knowledge of the occurrence of some parasite species in the Jari River basin, in eastern Amazon.