Abstract

LOUREIRO, Sarita Nunes; VIDEIRA, Marcela Nunes  and  GIARRIZZO, Tommaso. Host-parasite interaction between sardines Cetengraulis edentulus (Cuvier, 1829) and the isopod parasite Livoneca desterroensis (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) in an estuary in Northern Brazil. Rev Pan-Amaz Saude [online]. 2012, vol.3, n.2, pp.25-31. ISSN 2176-6215.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S2176-62232012000200004.

The isopod Livoneca desterroensis (Thatcher, Souza-Conceicao, Jost, 2003) was found in specimens of Cetengraulis edentulus in a non-vegetated intertidal mangrove in the estuary of the Curuca river, North of Brazil. The samples were collected with a beach seine net at neap tide during an entire tidal cycle. A total of 1,134 specimens of C. edentulus were captured. The parasitological survey showed that 80 (7%) of the fish hosted 83 parasites of the species L. desterroensis: 71 (86%) females and 12 (14%) males. They were found in the branchiae (81; 97.6%) and in the mouth (2; 2.4%). Their prevalence rate was 7.05%, mean intensity was 1.04, and abundance rate was 0.07. There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.72; p < 0.05) between the hosts' and the parasites' total length (grouped according to their gender), and between the hosts' and the female parasites' total length (r = 0.78; p < 0.05). Female parasites were more common in infested hosts regardless of their size groups, and their frequency rates increased as the size group of the host increased. This is the first report of L. desterroensis parasiting C. edentulus in the estuary of the Curuçá river, Northeastern Pará State.

Keywords : Fish Diseases; Host-Parasite Interactions; Mouth; Gills.

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