Macroparasites of angelfish Brama brama (Bonnaterre, 1788) in the southern Benguela Current ecosystem

Macroparasites of angelfish Brama brama (Bonnaterre, 1788) in the southern Benguela Current ecosystem

The angelfish Brama brama is a mesopelagic species distributed circumglobally in temperate to warm-temperate waters, including continental-shelf-edge and upper-slope waters of the Benguela Current ecosystem. Little is known about the parasite assemblage of Benguela B. brama, with only three parasite...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:African journal of marine science Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 245 - 252
Main Authors: Mackintosh, AL, Reed, CC, Nunkoo, MAI, King, PH, van der Lingen, CD
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Grahamstown Taylor & Francis 03-07-2018
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
angelfish
Anisakis pegreffii
Aquatic crustaceans
Atlantic pomfret
Biodiversity
Biology
Brama brama
Continental shelves
Ecosystems
Hatschekia conifera
Hepatoxylon trichiuri
infection intensity
Infections
Parasites
parasitism
Plankton
Rhadinorhynchus
Seasonal variation
Seasonal variations
Species
Surveys
Taxa
teleost
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Summary:The angelfish Brama brama is a mesopelagic species distributed circumglobally in temperate to warm-temperate waters, including continental-shelf-edge and upper-slope waters of the Benguela Current ecosystem. Little is known about the parasite assemblage of Benguela B. brama, with only three parasite taxa having previously been documented from this species in the southern Benguela. This study describes the macroparasites recorded from 35 B. brama collected during research surveys off the west coast of South Africa in 2015 and 2016. A total of six macroparasite taxa were documented, including the nematode Anisakis pegreffii, the copepod Hatschekia conifera, the cestode Hepatoxylon trichiuri, an acanthocephalan from the genus Rhadinorhynchus, a monogenean from the family Diclidophoridae, and an unidentified species. Three of these (He. trichiuri, Rhadinorhynchus sp. and the unidentified species) had not previously been found to infect B. brama. The most prevalent macroparasite taxa were A. pegreffii (94%), the unidentified species (71%) and Ha. conifera (60%). Two of the parasites, Ha. conifera and He. trichiuri, showed seasonal variation in infection, and infection with the latter was positively correlated with host length. These findings increase our knowledge of B. brama biology and contribute to our understanding of the biodiversity of the southern Benguela ecosystem.
ISSN:1814-232X
1814-2338
DOI:10.2989/1814232X.2018.1499551