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We provide the first study on the diversity and community of parasites in Astronotus crassipinnis from the lower Amazon River, in Brazil. Of 35 hosts examined, 100% were infected with one or more species of parasites, such as Gussevia asota, Gussevia astronoti, Gussevia rogersi, Posthodiplostomum sp., Contracaecum sp., Gorytocephalus sp. and Dolops longicauda. Gussevia asota, G. astronoti and G. rogersi were dominant, and, in total, 9788 parasites were collected. The richness of parasite species (4.9±0.7), Brillouin diversity (0.46±0.28) and evenness (0.29±0.17) were low. Parasites had aggregated dispersion, parasitism did not affect the host condition factor, and host size did not influence abundance, species richness and parasite diversity. The parasitic fauna was characterized by the presence of few species of parasites with high prevalence and low abundance, specifically the endoparasites, besides dominance of ectoparasites. The presence of endoparasites indicates that the diet of A. crassipinnis consists mostly of mollusks and microcrustaceans. This fish species is an intermediate host for Posthodiplostomum sp., Contracaecum sp. and Gorytocephalus sp., parasites found in larval stage. Finally, the behavior and availability of infective stages, which are intermediate hosts for endoparasites, were factors structuring the communities of endoparasites. Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-05T01:19:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CPAFAP2018ParasitescommunityofAstronotuscrassipinnis.pdf: 414098 bytes, checksum: 775587b931dbf29a4e47992ad3a33549 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-04

The aim of this study was to investigate the component communities of parasites in Chaetobranchus flavescens from a tributary of the Amazon River system, northern Brazil. Out of 39 fish examined, 1,124,710 parasites were collected, such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Piscinoodinium pillulare (Protozoa), Gussevia spilocirra, Gussevia elephus (Monogenea), metacercariae of Clinostomum marginatum and Posthodiplostomum sp. (Digenea), Pseudoproleptus sp. larvae. (Nematoda), Echinorhynchus paranensis, Gorytocephalus spectabilis (Acanthocephala), Braga patagonica (Isopoda) and leeches Glossiphonidae (Hirudinea). However, I. multifiliis was the dominant and abundant species, while B. patagonica and Hirudinea gen. sp. were the least prevalent and abundant parasites. These parasites had an aggregate dispersion, with mean richness of 4.7 ± 1.5 per fish, Brillouin diversity of 0.32 ± 0.29 and evenness of 0.15 ± 0.13. No correlation between the length and the parasite species richness and the Brillouin diversity was found, as well as regarding host size and abundance of parasites. Body condition of the hosts was not affected by the moderate parasitism. The low diversity of endoparasites indicates that C. flavescens is a host with low position in the food web. Finally, this was the first study on parasites of C. flavescens. Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-27T00:35:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CPAFAP2018ParasitescommunityinChaetobranchus.pdf: 2778303 bytes, checksum: 7631c6c6e8c66d084463c2088778951e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-26

The aim of this study was to investigate parasites crustacean fauna in Arapaima gigas, Cichla monoculus, Cichla ocellaris, Cichla jariina, Satanoperca jurupari, Leporinus friderici, Leporinus fasciatus, Hoplias malabaricus, Phractocephalus hemioliopterus, Serrasalmus altispinis, Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum and Potamotrygon motoro of the State Amapa´ and Para´, in northern Brazil. A total of 242 parasites, including Argulus elongatus, Argulus multicolor, Argulus juparanaensis, Argulus nattereri, Dolops discoidalis, Dolops longicauda, Braga patagonica, Braga fluviatilis, Livoneca guianensis and undetermined Lernaeidae, were collected from these hosts. The Argulus species had the greatest richness among the community of parasitic crustaceans. There was a low abundance of parasites among the hosts, other than D. discoidalis, was most abundant in the integument of A. gigas and P. tigrinum. Finally, the present study reported nine new hosts for the crustacean parasite species and expanded knowledge of the occurrence of some parasite species in the Jari River basin, in eastern Amazon.

The present study investigated the fauna of metazoan parasites of a Geophagus proximus population from the lower Tapajós River, in the state of Pará, northern Brazil. A total of 137 monogeneans were collected from the gills of G. proximus , including Sciadicleithrum kritskyi , Sciadicleithrum paranaensis and Sciadicleithrum geophagi , while 119 Raphidascaris (Sprentascaris ) lanfrediae nematodes and 28 metacercariaes of digenea undetermined were collected from the intestine. Hosts harboring four species of parasites were predominant. The parasites had an aggregated dispersion pattern. The present study represents the first record of S. geophagi parasitizing G. proximus , increasing the geographic distribution of these parasite species to the Tapajós River basin. Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-11T16:04:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CPAFAP2017MetazoanparasitesofGeophagus.pdf: 2627868 bytes, checksum: 867c6fbb3ea8b35ccf1160f02dfd2c40 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-10

This study investigated the parasitic fauna of Cichlasoma bimaculatum of a tributary from the Amazon River system, northern Brazil. The prevalence of infection was 94.6 % and, in total, 428 267 parasites, such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Piscinoodinium pillulare (Protozoa), Gussevia arilla (Monogenoidea), Posthodiplostomum sp. (Digenea) and Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) inopinatus (Nematoda) were collected. However, the dominance was mainly of I. multifiliis, while P. (S.) inopinatus was the parasite species with the lower levels of prevalence and abundance of infection. These parasite species showed an aggregated dispersion pattern. The parasitic fauna was characterized by the presence of few species of parasites with high prevalence and abundance, specifically ectoparasites, and a low number of endoparasites. The observed pattern is explained by the mode of life of the host and it is suggested that C. bimaculatum occupies a low trophic level at the food web.

This study investigated the metazoan parasite fauna in Peckoltia braueri and Pterygoplichthys pardalis from a tributary of the Amazon River system, in northern Brazil. In P. braueri, 630 parasites were collected, belonging to Unilatus unilatus, Nothogyrodactylus sp., Genarchella genarchella, Proteocephalus sp., Gorytocephalus elongorchis, Dolops longicauda and Hirudinea gen. sp., with a dominance of monogenean species. In P. pardalis, 120 parasites were collected, belonging to U. unilatus, Acanthostomum gnerii and Gorytocephalus elongorchis, and this acanthocephalan was the dominant species. In both hosts, the parasites presented clumped distribution, high prevalence, low abundance, low Shannon diversity, and low species richness, with a predominance of helminth species. In P. braueri, host length was positively correlated with parasite species richness and Shannon index. There was no difference in the body condition of parasitized and non-parasitized fishes in either host. This was the first report of these parasites in P. braueri and P. pardalis.

The present study compared the community of parasites in populations of Triportheus angulatus and T. curtus from a tributary of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. All hosts had one or more parasite species, 862,687 parasites were collected from T. curtus and 302,008 from T. angulatus. Species richness of parasites, Shannon diversity index and evenness index were higher for T. angulatus. The parasite communities of both hosts was similar (99%) and composed by Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Anacanthorus pitophallus, metacercariae and Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) inopinatus, with dominance of I. multifiliis. However, low infection level by Piscinodinium pilullare, Dolops sp. and Contracaecum larvae occurred only in T. angulatus, and Spironucleus sp. was found only in T. curtus. There were differences in the prevalence, intensity and mean abundance for some parasites of both hosts. There was aggregated dispersion of parasites in both hosts, but the infection of P. (S.) inopinatus in T. angulatus showed a random dispersion. For T. angulatus and T. curtus, the diversity and abundance of parasites were influenced by the host size. This was the first report of these parasite species for T. curtus, as well as of I. multifiliis, P. pilullare, Dolops sp., P. (S.) inopinatus and Contracecum sp. for T. angulatus.

The aim of this study was to investigate the component community of parasite metazoans of Piaractus brachypomus in the lower Amazon River, northern Brazil. From 34 necropsied fish, 27,384 metazoan parasites were collected, such as Anacanthorus spathulatus, Mymarothecium viatorum and Notozothecium janauachensis (Monogenoidea); Spectatus spectatus and Contracaecum sp (Nematoda); Clinostomum marginatum and Dadaytrema oxycephala (Digenea); and Argulus carteri and Ergasilus sp. (Crustacea). The dominant species was S. spectatus followed by monogenoidean species, and there was aggregated dispersion of parasites, except for D. oxycephala and Contracaecum sp., which presented random dispersion. Positive correlation among the abundance of the three monogenoideans species were found, thus indicating that there was no competition between the species of these parasites on the gills of hosts. The abundances of some parasite species showed positive correlations with the size of the hosts, but the condition factor of the fish was not affected by the parasitism levels. It showed that this host had a metazoan community characterized by high species richness of metazoans, low evenness and high diversity of parasites, with prevalence of endoparasites, including larval stages. This was the first record of C. marginatum, A. carteri, Ergasilus sp. and Contracaecum sp. for P. brachypomus.

This paper records the first occurrence of Epistylis sp. on the body surface of Argulus sp. parasitizing Hoplias aimara from the upper Araguari River, in the eastern Amazon region, in the north of Brazil. Of the 16 specimens of H. aimara examined, 93.7% had their pelvic, caudal and pectoral fins and tegument infested by Argulus sp. (n = 73), which in turn were infested by Epistylis sp. The specimens of Epistylis sp. from the body surface of Argulus sp. were analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The present study also identified a widening of the geographic distribution of these two species of ectoparasites to the eastern Amazon region of Brazil.

The aim of this study was to investigate the parasitic endohelminth fauna of Metynnis hypsauchen from Jari River basin, in Brazilian Amazon. The 30 examined fish were parasitized by one or more species of endoparasites. A total of 4337 parasites were collected including Dadayus pacuensis, Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) inopinatus, Spinoxyuris oxydoras, Contracaecum sp. and Acanthocephala gen. sp. However, there was a dominance of D. pacuensis followed by S. oxydoras, and all parasites showed an aggregate dispersion. There was positive correlation between the abundance of P. (S.) inopinatus and the length and abundance of D. pacuensis with the weight of the host. The body condition of the hosts was not affected by parasitism. This first study on parasites of M. hypsauchen showed that this fish is an intermediate or definitive host for some species of these parasites.

Os parasitos têm sido reconhecidos como importantes componentes dos ecossistemas. Esses usam o ambiente para a sua transmissão e podem infectar diversas espécies de peixe no ecossistema. O presente estudo investigou a ecologia parasitária em Squaliforma emarginata e Harttia duriventris da bacia Igarapé Fortaleza, região de Macapá, estado do Amapá, Norte do Brasil. Para ambos os peixes houve similar nível de infecção por Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ciliophora), parasito dominante e com dispersão agregada. Spironucleus sp. (Hexamitidae) ocorreu somente nas brânquias de H. duriventris, enquanto Trinigyrus mourei (Monogenoidea) e Procamallanus inopinatus (Camallanidae) foram encontrados somente S. emarginata. O índice de Brillouin, riqueza de espécies de parasitos, uniformidade e dominância de Berger-Parker foram maiores em S. marginata, mas para ambos os hospedeiros a comunidade parasitária foi caracterizada por baixa diversidade e baixa uniformidade. Em H. duriventris e S. emarginata, o baixo parasitismo não afetou o fator de condição relativo (Kn) dos hospedeiros. Em S. emarginata houve correlação positiva da abundância de I. multifiliis com o comprimento, peso e Kn dos hospedeiros, enquanto que em H. druventris somente o peso e Kn mostram correlação com a abundância desse ciliado. Este foi o primeiro registro de I. multifiliis, Spironucleus sp. e P. inopinatus para H. duriventris e S. emarginata.

This study is the first investigation on seasonal dynamics of parasites component community of the Aequidens tetramerus from an Amazon River tributary, in Northern Brazil. A total of 239,2407 parasites were recovered from 92 hosts examined from February to October 2011. Such parasites included Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Tripartiella tetramerii and Trichodina nobilis (Protozoa), Dolops longicauda (Argulidae), Gussevia alioides, Gussevia disparoides (Monogenoidea), Digenea metacercarie, Pseudoproleptus larvae, Anisakidae larvae (Nematoda), Proteocephalidea plerocercoid (Eucestoda) and Gorytocephalus spectabilis (Acanthocephala). Ciliates were the most dominant and abundant taxon, while cestodes were the least prevalent. The parasites showed seasonal variation in their infection dynamics associated with environmental changes during the Amazonian drainage season, except the infection with I. multifiliis. The parasites community in A. tetramerus was also characterized by higher diversity, species richness and uniformity during the drainage season when compared to Amazon flood season. With the exception of T. tetramerii, these parasite species are new records for A. tetramerus.

This work is the first study on parasitic fauna of Curimata cyprinoides Linnaeus, 1766 (Curimatidae) and the host-parasite relationship. The total of 154,740 parasites such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ciliophora), trophozoite of Spironucleus sp. (Hexamitidae), Urocleidoides sp. (Monogenoidea), Digenea gen. sp. and Polymorphus sp. (Polymorphidae) were collected. The component community showed low diversity (HB = 0.004 ± 0.020) and parasite species richness (1.4 ± 0.6). However, I. multifiliis and Urocleidoides sp. were prevalent and with higher intensity on the host population and also aggregated the distribution pattern. The occurrence of these ectoparasites in C. cyprinoides may be a consequence of its alimentary diet. Positive correlation between the abundance and size of I. multifiliis and the relative condition factor of the host were observed and discussed. These data represent increased knowledge of the biology of these parasites. Furthermore, this study expanded the geographic distribution of some parasite species for this new host from Brazil.