Parasite communities of the white seabream Diplodus sargus sargus in the marine protected area of Medes Islands, north‐west Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Marine protected areas are considered a useful tool to preserve and recover the biodiversity of ecosystems. It is suggested that fisheries not only affect populations of target and bycatch species but also their parasite communities. Parasites can indicate fishery effects on host species and also on the whole local community, but the effects of fisheries and protection measures on parasite communities are relatively unknown. This study analyses parasite communities of the white seabream Diplodus sargus sargus in order to assess potential effects exerted by protection measures within and by fisheries outside a reserve in the western Mediterranean Sea. This small scale analysis offered the opportunity to study different degrees of fishery effects on parasite infracommunities, without considering climatic effects as an additional factor. Parasite infracommunities of fishes from the no-take zone (NTZ) differed in their composition and structure compared with areas completely or partially open to fisheries. The detected spatial differences in the infracommunities derived from generalist parasites and varied slightly between transmission strategies. Monoxenous parasites were richer and more diverse in both fished areas, but more abundant in the no-take, whereas richness and abundance of heteroxenous parasites were higher for the NTZ. In addition to host body size as one factor explaining these spatial variations, differences within parasite infracommunities between the areas may also be linked to increased host densities and habitat quality since the implementation of the NTZ and its protection measures.

The parasitic fauna of Pagellus acarne (Risso, 1827) (Teleostei: Sparidae) of Béni Saf 's Bight in the West Coast of Algeria.

“…Sparids have already collected this species by Hermida et al (2012) in the North Atlantic. Scolex pleuronectis larvae were identified with a prevalence of 23.07% and reported in Sparidae fish by several authors (Anato et al, 1991;Akmirza, 1998Akmirza, , 2000Akmirza, , 2002Paraguassù et al, 2002;Luque and Poulin, 2004;Perez-Del-Olmo et al, 2007, 2008Ternengo et al, 2009;Marzoug et al, 2012;Radujkovic et al, 2014, Benhamou et al, 2017and Isbert et al, 2018Hadjou, 2019).…”

“…Prevalence (P), abundance (Ab), and mean intensity (MI) of Nematoda in sparid fishes from the western Mediterranean coast of Algeria for the stomach (A), caecum (B), intestine(C), gonads (D), rectum(E), liver (F), general cavity(G), esophagus(H), digestive tract (I) sites. -Renaud & al., 1980-Cook & al., 1981-Petter & al., 1984-Petter et Maillard, 1988a, 1988b-Pérez -del -olmo et al, -Merzoug & al., 2012-Ichalal et al, 2015-Benhamou & al., 2017-Keser & al., 2007 Hadjou & al., 2017-Ternengo & al., 2009-Saadi & al., 2019-Ternengo & al., 2009-Isbert & al., 2018-Petter & al.,1984-Petter & Radujkovic, 1989-Radujkovic et Raibaut, 1989-Akmirza, 1998-Merzoug & al., 2012-Benhamou & al., 2017-Lablack, 2014-Lablack, 2014 [ Hadjou & al., 2017-Azbaid & al., 2016-Gasmi & al., -Saadi & al., 2019-Costa & al., 2004-Hermida & al., 2012-Lablack, 2014-Eiras & Rego, 1987-Vicente & al.,1985,1999-Paraguassù & al., 2000-Luque & Poulin, 2004-Saad & Luque, 2009-Lablack, 2014-Huang, 1988 [ Radujkovic & al., 2014-Pérez -del -olmo & al., 2007-Marzoug & al., 2012…”

“…Indeed, several researchers have reported the presence of Nematodes in Teleost fish (Ramdane, 2010;Saadi, 2013;Lablack, 2014;Ichalal et al, 2015;Azbaid et al, 2016;Hadjou et al, 2017;Hassani et al, 2014Hassani et al, , 20152020). The genus Hysterothylacium is the most frequent in P. acarne, and many authors (Rudolphi, 1819;Molin, 1858;Stossich, 1896;Petter and Radujkovic, 1989, Radujkovic and Raibaut, 1989, Akmirza, 1998, Ternengo et al, 2009, Benhamou et al, 2017, Isbert et al, 2018, have demonstrated its frequency in teleost fish. Some authors have reported the presence of mesoparasites like Axillary seabream Bartoli et al (1989), Petter and Cabaret (1995) in the North Atlantic and the North Sea of Europe, Bray and Cribb (1997) in the Atlantic Ocean, Salati et al (2013) in Sardinia, Akmirza (2013) in Turkey.…”

Parasites of Percophis brasiliensis (Percophidae) benefited from fishery regulations: Indicators of success for marine protected areas?

“…Indeed, most previous research has recorded higher parasite species richness, diversity and abundance in protected areas (Bartoli, Gibson, & Bray, 2005; Lafferty, Shaw, & Kuris, 2008; Loot, Aldana, & Navarrete, 2005; Sasal, Desdevises, Durieux, Lenfant, & Romans, 2004; Sasal, Faliex, & Morand, 1996; Wood et al, 2013), although other studies found no clearcut differences in assemblage structure (Ternengo, Levron, Mouillot, & Marchand, 2009) or opposite trends of abundance across parasite species (Isbert et al, 2018; Marzoug, Boutiba, Kostadinova, & Perez‐del‐Olmo, 2012). These effects on parasite communities have been used as indirect evidence on how fisheries can affect parasites (Wood & Lafferty, 2015) in a small number of studies (Isbert et al, 2018). However, probably because all these studies were carried out by comparison between fished and protected areas, little mention has been made of the potential of parasites as indicators of the success of protected areas in recovering ecosystems (but see Isbert et al, 2018), which should include data from before and after protection measures.…”

“…This includes fish parasites, which are impacted by reduced host abundance and food web complexity, which affect their transmission efficiency, population density and assemblage species richness (Wood & Lafferty, 2015). Understanding how parasite assemblages respond to protection measures may therefore help to evaluate the degree of effectiveness of fisheries management measures (Isbert et al, 2018).…”