Ectoparasites infecting Mugil curema (Mugiliformes: Mugilidae) in Amap á state estuary, in the northern Brazilian coast region

This study investigated the ectoparasite fauna inMugil curema (Valenciennes, 1836), in Amap á state estuary, in Brazilian coast region. The parasite prevalence was 51.4%, and a total of 282 parasites were collected amongLigophorus brasiliensis (Abdallah, Azevedo& Luque 2009),Excorallana longicornis (Lemos de Castro, 1960), larvae ofGnathia sp. andErgasilus atafonensis (Amado& Rocha, 1995), butL. brasiliensis was the dominant parasite. The parasites presented highly aggregated dispersion, except forGnathia sp. that had a random dispersion. There was a predominance of hosts non-parasitized and parasitized by one species. The relative condition factor did not differ between parasitized and non-parasitized fish. The body size of hosts did not influence the parasite abundance. The community of ectoparasites consisted of low species richness with low infection levels. This is the first study on parasites of fish from the coast of the State of Amap á and is the first report ofGnathia sp. forM. curema.
Source: Journal of Parasitic Diseases - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research