Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T13:07:53.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Occurrence of the isopod parasite Rocinela signata (Isopoda: Aegidae) on marine fish Sparisoma frondosum (Osteichthyes: Scaridae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2012

Elizete Teresinha Santos Cavalcanti
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Unidade Acadêmica Especializada em Ciências Agrárias, RN 160, Km 03, Distrito de Jundiaí, Macaíba/RN, CEP: 59280-000, Brazil
Sabrina Karla Silva do Nascimento
Affiliation:
Departament of Oceanography and Limnology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Praia de Mãe Luíza, s/n, 59014-100, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Nirlei Hirachy Costa Barros
Affiliation:
Departament of Oceanography and Limnology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Praia de Mãe Luíza, s/n, 59014-100, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Sathyabama Chellappa*
Affiliation:
Departament of Oceanography and Limnology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Praia de Mãe Luíza, s/n, 59014-100, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: S. Chellappa, Departament of Oceanography and Limnology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Praia de Mãe Luíza, s/n, 59014-100, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This study investigated the occurrence of metazoan parasites of the parrot-fish, Sparisoma frondosum (Osteichthyes: Scaridae), captured from the coastal waters of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Using traps and motorized boats a total of 104 fish specimens were captured and their total length, body mass and gonad maturity stages were recorded. The fish samples were necropsied and the parasites encountered were carefully removed and quantified. The isopod Rocinela signata (Isopoda: Aegidae) parasitized 33.91% of fish, with a prevalence of 37.5%, a mean intensity of 2.58 and a mean abundance of 0.97 parasites per fish sampled. The site of parasitic infestation was the gill chambers of the hosts. This is the first record of R. signata parasitizing S. frondosum from the coast of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Araújo, G.S. (2008) Ecologia parasitária de isópodos e biologia reprodutiva em tibiro, Oligoplites spp. (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) das águas costeiras de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. Master's Dissertation. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.Google Scholar
Araújo, G.S., Costa, E.F.S., Cavalcanti, E.T.S. and Chellappa, S. (2008) Índices parasitários de Cymothoa spinipalpa (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) no tibiro, Oligoplites saurus e O. palometa (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) das águas costeiras de Natal, RN. In Proceedings of III Congresso Brasileiro de Oceanografia, Fortaleza, CE.Google Scholar
Bonaldo, R.M., Krajewski, J.P., Sazima, C. and Sazima, I. (2006) Foraging activity and resource use by three parrotfish species at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, tropical West Atlantic. Marine Biology 149, 423433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunkley-Williams, L., Williams, E.H Jr and Bashirullah, A.K.M. (1998) Some isopods associated with Venezuelan fishes. Caribbean Marine Studies 6, 2730.Google Scholar
Bush, A.O., Lafferty, K.D., Lotz, J.M. and Shostak, A.W. (1997) Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. Journal of Parasitology 83, 575583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho-Souza, G.F., Souza Neto, J.R., Aleluia, F.T., Nascimento, I.A., Browne-Ribeiro, H., Santos, R.C. and Tinôco, M.S. (2009) Occurrence of isopods ectoparasites in marine fish on the Cotegipe Bay, north-eastern Brazil. Marine Biodiversity Records 2, e160. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1755267209990844.Google Scholar
Chellappa, S., Huntingford, F.A., Strang, R.H.C. and Thomson, R.Y. (1995) Condition factor and hepatosomatic index as estimates of energy status in male three-spined stickleback. Journal of Fish Biology 47, 775787.Google Scholar
Choat, H. and Bellwood, D. (1998) Wrasses & parrotfishes. In Eschmeyer, W.N. and Paxton, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of fishes. 2nd edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 209210.Google Scholar
Choat, J.H. and Robertson, D.R. (1975) Protogynous hermaphroditism in fishes of the family Scaridae. In Reinboth, R. (ed.) Intersexuality in the animal kingdom. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 263283.Google Scholar
Costa, E.F.S. and Chellappa, S. (2010) New host record for Livoneca redmanni (Leach, 1818) (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) in the Brazilian coastal waters with aspects of host–parasite interaction. Brazilian Journal of Oceanography 58 (Special issue), 7377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, E.F.S., Oliveira, M.R. and Chellappa, S. (2010) First record of Cymothoa spinipalpa (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitizing the marine fish Atlantic bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) from Brazil. Marine Biodiversity Records 3, e1. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1755267209991059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Girolamo, M., Scaggiante, M. and Rasotto, M.B. (1999) Social organization and sexual pattern in the Mediterranean parrotfish Sparisoma cretense (Teleostei: Scaridae). Marine Biology 135, 353360.Google Scholar
Eiras, J.C., Takemoto, R.M. and Pavanelli, G.C. (2006) Métodos de estudo e técnicas laboratoriais em parasitologia de peixes. Maringá, Brazil: Editora da Universidade Estadual de Maringá.Google Scholar
Garzon-Ferreira, J. (1990) An isopod, Rocinela signata (Crustacea: Isopoda: Aegidae), that attacks humans. Bulletin of Marine Science 46, 813815.Google Scholar
Hawkins, J.P. and Roberts, C.M. (2003) Effects of fishing on sex-changing Caribbean parrotfishes. Biological Conservation 115, 213226.Google Scholar
Huntingford, F.A., Chellappa, S., Taylor, A.C. and Strang, R.H.C. (2001) Energy reserves and reproductive investment in male three-spined sticklebacks, Gasteroosteus aculeatus . Ecology of Freshwater Fish 10, 111117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lima, J.T.A.X., Chellappa, S. and Thatcher, V.E. (2005) Livoneca redmanni Leach (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) e Rocinela signata Schioedte & Meinert (Isopoda, Aegidae), ectoparasitos de Scomberomorus brasiliensis Collette, Russo & Zavala-Camin (Ostheichthyes, Scombridae) no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 22, 11041108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menezes, N.A and Figueiredo, J.L. (1985) Manual de peixes marinhos do sudeste do Brasil. V. Teleostei (4). São Paulo: Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.Google Scholar
Moura, R.L., De Figueiredo, J.L. and Sazima, I. (2001) A new parrotfish (Scaridae) from Brazil, and revalidation of Sparisoma amplum (Ranzani, 1842), Sparisoma frondosum (Agassiz, 1831), Sparisoma axillare (Steindachner, 1878) and Scarus trispinosus Valenciennes, 1840. Bulletin of Marine Science 68, 505524.Google Scholar
Nelson, J.S. (2006) Fishes of the world. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Pavanelli, G.C., Eiras, J.C. and Takemoto, R. (2002) Doenças de peixes: profilaxia, diagnóstico e tratamento. Maringá, Brazil: Editora da Universidade Estadual de Maringá.Google Scholar
Robertson, D.R. (1972) Social control of sex reversal in a coral reef fish. Science 177, 10071009.Google Scholar
Robertson, D.R. and Warner, R.R. (1978) Sexual patterns in the labroid fishes of the western Caribbean. II. The parrotfishes (Scaridae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 255, 126.Google Scholar
Streelman, J.T., Alfaro, M., Westneat, M.W., Bellwood, D.R. and Karl, S.A. (2002) Evolutionary history of the parrotfishes: biogeography, ecomorphology, and comparative diversity. Evolution 56, 961971.Google ScholarPubMed
Thatcher, V.E. (2000) The isopod parasites of South American fishes. In Salgado-Maldonado, G., Aldrett, A.N.G. and Vidal-Martinez, V.M. (eds) Metazoan parasites in the Neotropics: a systematic and ecological perspective. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico Press, pp. 193226.Google Scholar
Thatcher, V.E., Araújo, G.S., Lima, J.T.A.X. and Chellappa, S. (2007) Cymothoa spinipalpa sp. nov. (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) a buccal cavity parasite of the marine fish, Oligoplites saurus (Bloch & Schneider) (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) of Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 24, 238245.Google Scholar
Vazzoler, A.E.A.M. (1996) Biologia da reprodução de peixes teleósteos: teoria e prática. Maringá, Brazil: Editora da Universidade Estadual de Maringá.Google Scholar
Winn, H.E and Bardach, J.E. (1960) Some aspects of comparative biology of parrot fishes of Bermuda. Zoologica 45, 2934.Google Scholar