Parasitism inPterois volitans(Scorpaenidae) from Coastal Waters of Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas

Abstract

Recently, Pterois volitans, a Pacific species of lionfish, invaded the Atlantic Ocean, likely via the aquarium trade. We examined for internal and external parasites 188 individuals from 8 municipalities of Puerto Rico collected during 2009-2012, 91 individuals from Little Cayman, Cayman Islands, collected during the summers of 2010 and 2011, and 47 individuals from Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, collected during the summer of 2009. In total, 27 parasite taxa were found, including 3 previously reported species from lionfish, the digenean Lecithochirium floridense, the leech Trachelobdella lubrica, and an Excorallana sp. isopod. We also report another 24 previously unreported parasite taxa from lionfish, including digeneans, monogeneans, cestodes, nematodes, isopods, a copepod, and an acanthocephalan. Among these parasites, several were previously unreported at their respective geographic origins: We report 5 new locality records from Puerto Rico, 9 from Cayman Islands, 5 from the Bahamas, 5 from the Caribbean, and 3 from the subtropical western Atlantic region. Three parasites are reported to associate with a fish host for the first time. The parasite faunas of P. volitans among our 3 study sites were quite different; most of the species infecting lionfish were generalists and/or species that infect carnivorous fishes. Although our study did not assess the impact of parasites on the fitness of invasive lionfish, it provides an important early step. Our results provide valuable comparative data for future studies at these and other sites throughout the lionfish's invaded range.

Helminth Parasites of Red Lionfish, Pterois volitans from the Veracruz Coral Reef System, Mexico, Southern Gulf of Mexico

“…Three new host records are provided, enrichening parasite records in red lionfish. P. volitans specimens from southern Gulf of Mexico have all characteristics of invasive species, and have been recorded for other sites of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea (Torchin et al, 2003;Simmons, 2014;Ramos-Ascherl et al, 2015;Sellers et al, 2015;Fogg et al, 2016). It is probable that helminths recorded belong to other host fish, which are lionfish preys, and we do not rule out the possibility of lateral transference of nematode larvae, as described for helminths of other marine fish (Marcogliese, 2007).…”

“…Comparatively, the number of species found in this study is similar to that registered in different sites of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, e.g., Eastern Florida Coast, USA (8 spp.) (Simmons, 2014), Cayman Islands (7), and the Bahamas (6); but lower than that recorded in Puerto Rico (13) (Ramos-Ascherl et al, 2015). Three new host records are provided, enrichening parasite records in red lionfish.…”

“…Studying one of these facets, helminthiasis and its infections, has shown that P. volitans participates in parasite life-cycles as accidental, paratenic or intermediate host (Simmons, 2014). This conclusion is supported by records of 30 helminth species from groups such as digeneans, monogeneans, cestodes, nematodes and acanthocephalans (Bullard et al, 2011;Simmons, 2014;Ramos-Ascherl et al, 2015;Sellers et al, 2015;Fogg et al, 2016). In general, helmiths have low prevalence and low abundance, due to the introduction time of the invasive species, the low susceptibility of the host to be infected by native parasites, and consumption of vectors with infective stages (Torchin et al, 2003;Torchin & Mitchell, 2004;Vignon & Sasal, 2010).…”

Parasites from the Red Lionfish, Pterois volitans from the Gulf of Mexico

“…The position of the excretory pore was not noted. Ramos-Ascherl et al (2015) reported adult Raphidascaris sp. from the stomach of P. volitans in the vicinity of Puerto Rico.…”

“…The value of data analyzed in such ecological investigations is dependent on accurate identification of parasite species, which in turn is dependent on the ability to verify parasite identification with vouchered museum specimens and sequence data. Studies identifying parasites of invasive lionfish in the western Atlantic Ocean that are supported by museum vouchered specimens or published sequence data are limited to 4 reports (Ruiz-Carus et al 2006, Bullard et al 2011, Ramos-Ascherl et al 2015, Claxton et al 2017, so there is a need to improve the current state of knowledge of parasites of invasive lionfish. This study reports and vouchers some parasites from invasive Red Lionfish from the northern Gulf of Mexico.…”