Composição e estrutura das comunidades de metazoários parasitos de Aspistor luniscutis e Genidens barbus (Osteichthyes: Ariidae) e Anchoa marinii e A. tricolor (Osteichthyes: Engraulididae) do litoral do estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Abstract

Between March 2000 and February 2003 63 specimens of sea catfishes G. barbus and 69 specimens of A. luniscutis and Between October 2001 and July 2003, 103 specimens of anchovies A. tricolor and 95 specimens of A. marinii from the coastal zone of the State of Rio de Janeiro (23°01'S, 43º38 - 44°19'W), Brazil, were necropsied to study their communities of metazoan parasites. Additionally, data obtained from 136 specimens of A. marinii and 115 specimens of E. anchoita, from the coastal zone of Mar del Plata (38º08 S, 57º32 W), Argentine, necropsied between November 1993 and February 1999, and were included in the present analysis. Ecological and community parasitic descriptors were calculated and its possible similarities statistically tested. Ergasilus youngi Tavares & Luque, 2005, parasitic on the gills of sea catfish, Aspistor luniscutis from the coastal zone of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is described and illustrated. Twenty three species of metazoan parasites were determined, 15 species parasitic in G. barbus and 17 parasitic in A. luniscutis, and 25 species of metazoan parasites from engraulidids were determined. Only P. merus was founded in all host species sample, although other four species were common to both Brazilian and Argentinean samples. The parasite infracommunities of A. luniscutis e G. barbus were characterized by ectoparasite dominance and scarcity of core species. The communities of metazoan parasites of the studied anchovies were characterized by dominance of larval endoparasites. Similarity between parasitic communities of sympatric species of ariid could be explained by habitat overlapping and similar biological behavior, that might expose to the same infective forms. Greater similarity observed between samples belonging to the same locality suggests the influence of ecological factors on the parasitic community structure of these species of engraulidids.