Gill monogenean communities on three commercially important sparid fish in Omani waters

The prevalence and intensity of polyopisthocotylean monogeneans on the gills of three commercially important species of sparid caught in Omani coastal waters close to the city port of Muscat were determined and compared. Throughout May 2012 to April 2013, infections on bi-weekly samples of the soldier seabream, Argyrops filamentosus (Valenciennes, 1830), the king soldier seabream, Argyrops spinifer (Forsskål, 1775), and, the silver seabream, Rhabdosargus sabra were evaluated. From a total of 200 specimens (standard length of 26–52 cm), caught by line angling or by traps, at least three species of gill monogenean, namely Omanicotyle [Bivagina] heterospina, Heteromicrocotyla sp. and Microcotyle sp., were commonly encountered. Silver bream, which was infected by all three monogeneans, bore the highest infections (100% prevalence; mean intensity of 20.14 ± 0.92 parasites fish-1), whilst the soldier bream, which was infected only by O. heterospina had the lowest levels of infection (of the three sparids with 63.8% prevalence; mean intensity 5.8 ± 0.17 parasites fish-1). Comments on the distribution of monogeneans on each host are provided but to what extent this is influenced by water current speeds passing through the buccal and opercular cavities, gill morphology, parasite size, and / or the morphology and efficiency of the parasite’s attachment apparatus requires establishing and forms the basis of ongoing investigations.