Biodiversity of the metazoan parasites of Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1837) (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae) in anthropized environments from the Batalha River, São Paulo State, Brazil

Abstract

Biodiversity of fish parasites is a field of significant growth worldwide, whether due to the advancement of fish farms or the important role of these organisms as indicators of environment quality and ecosystem health, making them useful tools in the conservation and maintenance of the biodiversity as a whole. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the structure and composition of the parasitic fauna of Prochilodus lineatus collected from two structurally distinct stretches of the Batalha River. Fifty specimens of P. lineatus were collected between June 2015 and June 2016. Of these 50 hosts, 875 parasite specimens were collected, divided into 30 species, belonging to seven groups: Myxozoa, Monogenea, Digenea, Acanthocephala, Nematoda, Copepoda and Hirudinea. In addition to new records of known parasites of P. lineatus for this locality, 13 species were newly recorded parasitizing this fish, including a new monogenean species (Tereancistrum sp. n.), with Monogenea being the most representative class in the study. The findings of this study expands the known geographic distribution of these parasite species and helps to increase the knowledge of the biodiversity of these organisms in different hosts and environments. In general, the structure and composition of the P. lineatus parasitic fauna did not seem to be influenced by the structural characteristics of the two stretches studied, due to the migratory habits of the host.

Biodiversity of the metazoan parasites of hoplias malabaricus (Bloch, 1794) from the Jacaré-Pepira River, Tietê-Jacaré River Basin, São Paulo State, Brazil

“…The richness accumulation curve of the observed species and the richness estimator did not reach the asymptote, following the same patterns found in studies carried out by Gião et al (2020), Pelegrini et al (2018), and Leite et al (2018) with other hosts, and with H. malabaricus in the same region where the Jacaré-Pepira River is inserted. This may be an indicator that even with a larger number of hosts analyzed and with new studies such as that of Lehun et al (2020), who identified and classified 315 parasite taxa, of which 201 were identified at species level, the biodiversity of the parasitic communities in rivers of the Upper Paraná River basin is not yet fully known, which intensifies the importance of studies on the characterization of ichthyofauna for that region.…”

Temporal effects and changes in the parasitic community ofProchilodus lineatus(Valenciennes, 1837) (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae) in a floodplain

“…This dominance also can be explained by the feeding habits of the host, which includes a wide variety of invertebrates, presenting low food specificity, making it extremely susceptible to parasite acquisition through the trophic web (Fugi et al, 2001;Lizama et al, 2005). Other studies have already demonstrated the high prevalence of N. curemai in P. lineatus (Martins et al, 2001;Leite et al, 2018;Duarte et al, 2020;Lehun et al, 2020), which contributes to the high abundance in the present study, especially for Period 2.…”

PARASITE DIVERSITY OF <i>Hoplosternum littorale</i> FROM THE TIETí­Å -BATALHA RIVER BASIN, SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

“…In the study by Pedro et al (2016) with Acestrorhynchus lacustris (Lütken, 1875), this pattern was also observed (H = 1.42; D = 1.28; J = 0.75). As the present study, Leite et al (2018) in an analysis of Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1837), obtained greater Margalef Index (1.83) than diversity (0.81). Although lower than the other two indexes, Pielou's equitability values are not considered low, since this index varies from 0 to 1, different from the other indexes that do not have this limitation.…”

“…The Batalha River, despite presenting a diverse ichthyofauna (Santos and Heubel, 2008), has been the target of few studies involving ecological analyzes of parasitic fish communities (Pedro et al, 2016;Leite et al, 2018;Negrelli et al, 2018;Pelegrini et al, 2021). Thus, this study aimed to inventory the parasitic fauna of H. littorale specimens from the Batalha River, São Paulo, Brazil, as well as to present considerations on the composition and structure of the parasitic communities present in this host.…”