Four new species of Cichlidogyrus (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae), gill parasites of Tilapia cabrae (Teleostei: Cichlidae), with discussion on relative length of haptoral sclerites

Abstract

Tilapia cabrae Boulenger, 1899, a cichlid fish from coastal lowlands of the Republic of Congo (Africa), was examined for gill parasites. Four new species of the Monogenea were found, all belonging to Cichlidogyrus (Ancyrocephalidae): C. berradae sp. n., C. revesati sp. n., C. legendrei sp. n., and C. lemoallei sp. n. A possible relationship between the relative size of haptoral sclerites (i.e., uncinuli compared to gripi) and microhabitat selection in the studied host-parasite model is discussed.

Análise parasitológica e hematológica em tilápia do Nilo, <em>Oreochromis niloticus</em> Linnaeus, 1757, da represa de Guarapiranga, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil

“…These values are higher than those found by Ueda et al (1997) in Nile tilapia grown in captivity and close to the levels reported by Tavares-Dias et al (2000) for redflowered tilapia in captivity. Ranzani-Paiva et al (2000) found a significant decrease in hematocrit values in Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1836) from the Parana River which were infested by Dactylogyridae.…”

“…Studies by Pool and Chubb (1987) showed that monogeneans cause the death of the host when present on the gills in high numbers. Most monogeneans have a well-defined yearly infection pattern, where there is an increase in prevalence and intensity during the summer and a decline during the cold months until a minimum is reached in the spring.…”

“…Table 2 shows that the mean intensity of this parasite infestation was increased with a peak in December 1997. This monogenean is common in different species of tilapia and displays a vast geographic distribution (Pariselle andEuzet, 1995, 2003), where its presence in Brazil was first recorded in Tilapia mossambica (Peters, 1852) in the Amazonia region (Thatcher, 1991). Acta Sci.…”

“…Ranzani-Paiva et al (1997) found in Mugil platanus Günther, 1880 a significant difference in the mean porcentage of hematocrit and hemoglobin concentrations between individuals parasitized by trichodinae in the gills and those not infected. Ranzani-Paiva et al (2000) demonstrated alterations in blood composition related to parasitism in fish from the Parana River.…”

“…The latter can include water temperature (Houston and de Wilde, 1968), concentration of O 2 or CO 2 (Soivio and Oikari, 1976), pollution and diseases (RanzaniPaiva et al, 1997) and even parasitism (Mahajan and Dheer, 1979;Ranzani-Paiva et al, 2000).…”