Fifty-five specimens of pink cusk-eel,
Genypterus brasiliensis
Regan, 1903 (Osteichthyes: Ophidiidae) collected from the coastal zone
of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (approx. 21-23°S, 41-45°W),
from September 2000 to January 2001, were necropsied to study their parasites.
All fish were parasitized by one or more metazoan. Fourteen species of
parasites were collected.
G. brasiliensis
is a new host record for nine parasite species. The larval stages of cestodes
and the nematodes were the majority of the parasite specimens collected,
with 38.4% and 36.5%, respectively.
Cucullanus genypteri
was the dominant species with highest prevalence and/or abundance. The
parasites of
G. brasiliensis
showed the typical overdispersed pattern of distribution. Six parasite
species showed correlation between the host's total body length and
prevalence and abundance. Host sex did not influence prevalence and parasite
abundance of any parasite species. The mean diversity in the infracommunities
of
G. brasiliensis
was H= 0.364 ± 0.103, with correlation with the host's total
length and without differences in relation to sex of the host. One pair
of adult endoparasites (
C. genypteri
and
A. brasiliensis
) showed positive covariations between their abundances. Negative association
or covariation was not found. Differences between the qualitative and
quantitative aspects of the parasite community of
G. brasiliensis
from Rio de Janeiro and Argentina suggest the existence of two population
stocks of pink cusk-eel in the South America Atlantic Ocean.
