Metazoan parasites of the channel catfish ( Ictalurus punctatus) from three dams in Nuevo Leon, Mexico

The freshwater channel catfish ( Ictalurus punctatus, Rafinesque, 1818) is one of the world-wide highlight species in aquaculture. Despite the growing presence of this fish in the farming industry, its parasitic fauna is rarely studied in Mexico. This survey was designed to provide insight into the occurrence and abundance of parasitic fauna of I. punctatus and to contribute to the national inventory of parasites of this fish. This study was performed at the follow - ing three dams in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico: Cerro Prieto, Rodrigo Gomez, and El Cuchillo-Solidaridad. Seven helminths and 1 copepod species were recorded from the 24 I. punctatus collected. This record consists of a total of 4,687 parasites, of which 108 were endoparasites and 4,579 ectoparasites. Our findings demonstrate a great diversity of helminth parasites, including Ligictaluridus floridanus , and Corallobothrium fimbriatum , and new locality records for Megalogonia ictaluri , Centrocestus formosanus , Diplostomum ( Austrodiplostomum ) compactum , Spiroxys sp., the co - pepod Ergasilus cerastes, and a new host and distribution record was reported for Spinitectus tabascoensis , originally described from I. furcatus from Tabasco, southern Mexico.