First occurrence of Quadrigyrus nickoli (Acanthocephala) in the ornamental fishHyphessobrycon eques

Abstract

The objective of this work was to report the first seasonal occurrence of the acanthocephalan Quadrigyrus nickoli Schmidt & Hugghins, 1973 (Quadrigyridae), in the "Mato Grosso" Hyphessobrycon eques (Characidae) (Steindachner, 1882), collected from the Chumucuí River, state of Pará, Brazil. The fish were collected between July 2006 (rainy season) and June 2007 (dry season) and were examined for parasites using pattern techniques. A total of 75 parasites were found in the stomach and intestine. Among 83 fish examined (50 in the dry season and 33 in the rainy season), 22 were parasitized by cystacanths of Q. nickoli. The importance of H. eques as a paratenic host for Q. nickoli is discussed. This is the first study on the biology of and infection by Q. nickoli occurring in the eastern Amazon region.

First record of Hysterothylacium sp. Moravec, Kohn et Fernandes, 1993 larvae (Nematoda: Anisakidae) infecting the ornamental fish Hyphessobrycon eques Steindachner, 1882 (Characiformes, Characidae)

“…Even though H. eques is largely appreciated all over the world, the literature reports only one study on its parasite fauna. Fujimoto et al (2013) recorded for the first time seasonal occurrence of Q. nickoli cystacanths in H. eques from the Chumucuí River, Pará State, Brazil.…”

“…Hyphessobrycon eques Steindachner, 1882 is world widely known as serpa tetra (Carvalho and Del-Claro, 2004) or jewel tetra (Fujimoto et al, 2013) and as "mato grosso" in Brazil (Duke Energy, 2008). This fish is part of the "rosy tetra clade" suggested by Weitzman and Palmer (1997).…”

“…Studies with H. eques have been conducted under different approaches: ornamental use (Pan et al, 2011;Morais, 2013), feeding behavior (Carvalho and Del-Claro, 2004), association with macrophytes , indicator of water quality (Carraschi et al, 2011), and diet Crippa et al, 2009;Santana-Porto and Andrian, 2009); however the study of Fujimoto et al (2013) is the only assessment on its parasite fauna. These last authors recorded seasonal occurrence of Quadrigyrus nickoli Schmidt and Hugghins, 1973 cystacanths in H. eques from the Chumucuí River, Pará State, Brazil.…”

“…Thereby, the knowledge about the parasites that can be harbored in fishes and the aspects linked with taxonomy, ecology and biology can assist the development of prevention and treatment (Eiras et al, 2010). However, only a few Brazilian wild freshwater ornamental fish had their parasite fauna assessed (Fujimoto et al, 2013;Tavares-Dias et al, 2010).…”

Metazoan parasites of freshwater ornamental fishes

“…Previous studies have also shown metacercariae of the digenean Ascocotyle sp. (Piazza et al, 2006) and cystacanths of the acantocephalan Quadrigyrus nickoli Schmidt & Hugghins, 1973 parasitizing ornamental fish (Fujimoto et al, 2013). More recently, Santos et al (2017) observed monogenean Diaphorocleidus kabatai (Molnar, Hanek & Fernando, 1974) Jogunoori, Kritsky & Venkatanarasaiah, 2004 in the gills of Gymnocorymbus ternetzi, D. extensus Mueller &Van Cleave, 1932, andD.…”