Metazoan Parasite Infracommunities of Menticirrhus (Teleostei: Sciaenidae): An Amphi-Oceanic Approximation

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---­ RESEARCH NOTES

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1. Pnrasuol.. 85C!). 141J9 p. 379-381 (0 American Society of Parasnolngrvts 1999

Metazoan Parasite Infracommunities of Menticirrhus (Teleostei: Sciaenidae): An Amphi-Oceanic Approximation Jose Luis Luque and Marcelo E. Oliva", Departamento de Parasltologia Animal. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Ca.xa Postal 74508. Seropedica. RJ. 23890-000, Brasil; and 'Facuttad de Recursos del Mar. Untversrcac de Antofagasta. Casilla 170, Antofagasta. Chile .\BSTRACT: Metazoan infracommunities of Menticirrhus ophicephalus from the south Pacific Ocean and M. americanus from the south Atlantic Ocean were analyzed and compared. The metazoan parasite infracom­ munities of M. ophicephalus showed higher values of total number of parasite individualslhost and parasite species richness than that of M. american us. but M. americanus showed higher values of parasite spe­ cies diversity. The infracommunities of ectoparasites showed higher val­ ues of total number of parasite individuals/host, richness. and frequency of dominance in M. ophicephalus; in contrast. endoparasites showed higher values of these infracornrnunity descriptors in M. americanus. Ecological analysis of the marine fish parasite infracommunities using the total number of components (ecto- and endoparasites) could hide some patterns of the community structure; thus. a separate analysis of only ecto- or endoparasites is recommended. Additional studies moni­ toring the influence of the "upwelling ecosystem" and the El Nino­ Southern oscillation event on the fish parasite communities are neces­ sary to determine the real influence of these ecological disturbances on the structure of fish parasite communities in South America.

In the last decades, studies on ecological aspects of marine fish parasites have increased (Holmes, 1990; Rohde et al., 1995). However, the majority of these studies focused only on populational aspects. Rohde (1986) applied the "time" and "ecological" hypotheses to explain the high diversity of mono­ geneans observed in the marine fishes from the Pacific Ocean. According to Rohde (1986), the geologic age of the Pacific Ocean and the occurrence of glaciations in extensive areas of the Atlantic Ocean could explain differences in monogenean diversity. Rohde's hypotheses require more studies with addi­ tional databases because he did not include the other taxa com­ ponent of the infracommunities and used only a qualitative ap­ proximation of parasite species diversity in his analysis. Ac­

cording to Holmes (1990), the environmental factors determine the local host and parasite fauna; therefore, the influences of the general productivity of the local ecosystem and natural dis­ turbances on the parasite communities deserve much more at­ tention. The sciaenid genus Menticirrhus includes benthic fishes with geographical distributions restricted to the Neotropical region. These species are also predatory, schooling, and show a wide feeding pattern that includes both planktonic and benthic com­ ponents (Tarazona et al .• 1988; Lunardon and Silva, J990; Lu­ nardon et al., 1991). These characteristics suggest a large po­ tential to act as intermediate and definitive hosts in parasite systems based on trophic transmission. In the present paper. a comparative analysis of the descriptors of the infracommunities of metazoan parasites in Menticirrhus ophicephalus from the South American Pacific and Menticirrhus americanus from the South American Atlantic was conducted to evaluate the influ­ ences of the fish's ocean source. The data set is the result of the parasitological survey of 238 specimens of M. ophicephalus (1enyns) from Chorrillos Bay in the central Peruvian coastal zone (l2°30'S, 76°50'W) during 1988 and 115 specimens of M. americanus (Linnaeus) from the coastal zone of the State of Rio de Janeiro in the southern Brazil (21-23°S, 41-45°W) during 1996. The fish were collected pe­ riodically by local fishermen. Fish species were determined ac­ cording to Chirichigno (1980) (M. ophicephalus) and Menezes and Figueiredo (1980) (M. americanus). Parasite data of M. ophicephalus and M. americanus are from Luque (1994) and

T\HLE I. Some descriptors for the metazoan infracommunities structure of Menticirrhus ophicephalus from the southern Pacific Ocean and Menticirrhus americanus from the southern Atlantic Ocean.

Mcnticirrhus Mean parasite species nchncss Mean number of parasite inJividuals/host Mean Brillouin's diversity index Mean Brillouin-based evenness index Relative dominance and trcqucnc y of most dominant species '" Z --:: value of normal approximation of rhc \1ann-Whitncy test. Significant values

t

ophiccphalus

Menticirrhus americanus

·U :!: 1.5

147.8:!: 124.5

0.15 :!: O. I. n = 230

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