Parasitological analysis of 237 Menticirrhus ophicephalus, 124
Paralonchurus peruanus, 249 Sciaena deliciosa, 50 Sciaena
fasciata and 308 Stellifer minor from Callao (Peru) yielded 37
species of metazoan parasites (14 Monogenea, 11 Copepoda, 4 Nematoda, 3
Acanthocephala, 1 Digenea, 1 Aspidobothrea, 1 Eucestoda, 1 Isopoda and 1
Hirudinea). Only one species, the copepoda Bomolochus peruensis, was
common to all five hosts. The majority of the components of the
infracommunities analyzed are ectoparasites. The Brillouin index (H) and
evenness (J') were applied to the fully sampled metazoan parasite
infracommunities. High values of prevalence and mean abundance of infection
are associated to the polyonchoinean monogeneans; the low values of J'
reinforce the strong dominance of this group in the studied communities.
The paucity of the endoparasite fauna may be a consequence of the unstable
environment due to an upwelling system, aperiodically affected by the El
Nino Southern Oscillation phenomena.
