Estrutura das comunidades de endoparasitos de seis espécies de peixes do Pantanal Norte Matogrossense, Brasil

Abstract

The Pantanal provides great biotic diversity, having different characteristics in times of flood and drought, hosting around 263 species of fish. The studies of the ecological host-parasite relationship in fishes of the Cuiabá River, North Pantanal (MT) are scarce. This study aimed to study quantitatively and qualitatively the endoparasite communities of migratory fish of commercial importance of this location, check the fluctuation patterns of these indices and their relation to the total length and the sex of host, and the cluster analysis of the similarity between the components communities of endoparasites from different hosts. The samples were taken during the years 2005 to 2009 on the River Cuiabá - Pantanal National Park (PARNA-Pantanal) at 17 ° 50 '48 "S 57 ° 24' 6" W in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, 376 specimens: Pseudoplatystoma corruscans - 50, P. fasciatum - 50, Piaractus mesopotamicus - 85, Prochilodus lineatus - 72; Zungaro zungaro-50 and Salminus brasiliensis - 87. Twenty-three species of endoparasites were identified: five digenean, eight cestodes, seven nematodes, two acanthocephalan and one pentastomid. We collected 10,418 specimens of endoparasites, of wich 6162 (59.15%) were collected from P. mesopotamicus, 1249 (11.99%) of P. fasciatum, 1173 (11.26%) of Z. zungaro, 1167 (11.2%) of P. corruscans. The pattern of aggregate distribution of parasites was observed for all species. The fishes from the family Pimelodidae analyzed showed the greatest diversity of species, although without the presence of any dominant species of endoparasites. The relationship of body length between the host parasite prevalence were positive for the parasitism of P. lineatus by N. (N.) curemai and by A. compactum, and of P. corruscans by S. oxycephala. On the other hand, parasitism of P. corruscans by Porrocaecum sp. showed a negative relationship between abundance and host growth. In Z. zungaro only the abundance of P. rugosa and Porrocaecum sp. showed positive relationship with the length of the fish. The sex of the host had influenced significantly the abundance of N. (N) curemai in P. lineatus, of S. spectatus in P. mesopotamicus and the prevalence of S. oxycephala in P. fasciatum, suggesting the existence of ecological and behavioral differences between male and female hosts. Cluster analysis of similarity between the compositions of endoparasites of migratory fish has resulted in two main groups well differentiated, with only 16.03% similarity between them. The first group was formed by piscivorous fish and the second by omnivores and detritivores. Among pimelodids the composition of their communities have 50% of similarity reaching to 87.5% of similarity between P. corruscans and P. fasciatum. The S. brasiliensis (Characidae) showed qualitative similarity of 39.68% compared to the internal group comprised of Pimelodidae. The other main group was composed by the omnivorous P. mesopotamicus (Characidae) and the detritivore P. lienatus (Prochilodontidae). Prochilodus lineatus showed 22.22% of similarity in the composition among their endoparasites. As the quantitative similarity, only a core group was formed. The similarity between the pimelodids was 50.35%, reaching to 67.29% between P. faciatum and P. corruscans. Salminus brasiliensis shared 30.46% of similarity between the quantitative pimelodids and 12.41% between P. mesopotamicus which, in turn, showed only 2.02% of quantitative similarity with P. lineatus. Among the migratory fish of commercial interest in Northern Pantanal of Mato Grosso, the similarity on the composition and structure of their endoparasite communities was strongly influenced by the phylogenetic relatedness hosts, as well as by the piscivorous feeding habits, coupled with the distribution of the fishes at the water’s column