Ectoparasitic community of the gills of Pacific sierra Scomberomorus sierra Jordan & Starks, 1895 (Actinopteri: Scombridae) from northern Peru

Abstract

Scombrids have mainly been studied for systematic, zoogeographic and parasitological purposes; however, there are few studies focused on the interaction between ecological parameters and the parasite community of a given host. Therefore, the objective of this research was to analyze the ectoparasite community of Scomberomorus from Northern Peru. A total of 58 specimens of S. sierra were obtained and were necropsied to search for parasites, which were collected and preserved. The main parasitological indices, degree of aggregation, parasite association with size, weight and sex, and finally, the alpha diversity indices of these parasitic fauna were calculated. 98% of the fish were parasitized by at least one parasitic species. The parasites with the highest prevalence were Didymocylindrus sp. (Trematoda) and Thoracocotyle crocea (Monogenea), while the parasite with the highest average intensity was Caligus pelamydis (Copepoda). The mean intensity and abundance of infection of T. crocea and unidentified Didymozoidae. were found to be positively related to the size of S. sierra. Sex showed significant differences only with the mean abundance of T. crocea, and with the mean intensity of Didymocylindrus sp. The five new records of parasites in S. sierra from Peru were Didymocylindrus sp., Glomeritrema sp., unidentified Didymozoidae, Scomberocotyle scomberomori, and C. pelamydis. This study represents the first ecological-parasitic record for S. sierra in northern Peru.