Parasite communities of the predatory fish, Acestrorhynchus falcatus and Acestrorhynchus falcirostris, living in sympatry in Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

This study investigated the parasite communities of wild Acestrorhynchus falcatus and Acestrorhynchus falcirostris populations living in sympatry in Brazilian Amazon. In these two hosts, a total of 12 parasite species e 1-9 parasite species were found per fish, and 10 of these species are metazoans. Eight species of parasites were common to both host species and four of them exhibited differences in abundance and/or prevalence. Parasite communities of the hosts were taxonomically similar (83%) and composed of both ectoparasites and endoparasites, and characterized by high prevalence and high abundance of endoparasites and an aggregated dispersion pattern. For A. falcirostris, the dominant parasite was Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, and for A. falcatus, it was Piscinoodinium pillulare. Shannon diversity and Berger-Parker dominance were similar for both hosts, while the parasites species richness and evenness showed differences influenced by the ectoparasites species. These two populations of hosts that inhabited the same geographical area had different sizes, but were exposed to the same infective stages, and acquired qualitatively and quantitatively similar endoparasites community, thus indicating that the amounts and types of prey congeneric that they were eating were similar. Therefore, the overlap in the same occurrence area play an important role in the parasite communities to these phylogenetically related hosts.

Digenea parasites of Acestrorhynchus falcirostris (Osteichthyes, Acestrorhynchidae) in the state of Amazonas, Brazil

“…C. marginatum (Figure 4g) were also recovered from 43.0% (34 out of the 82 fish examined; 1-26 digeneans per fish). A. compactum had already been reported in this host from the state of Amazonas by Vital et al (2016) and C. marginatum from the state of Amapá by Hoshino et al (2016). The material studied were deposited in the "Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia", (INPA), Manaus,Brazil: A. compactum (INPA numbers: 651,652,653,654,655,656) and C. marginatum (INPA numbers: 644,645,646,647,648,649,650).…”

“…Until now, two species of Digenea had been reported in A. falcirostris in Brazil: Metacercariae of Austrodiplostomum compactum Lutz, 1928 in state of Amazonas (VITAL et al, 2016) and Clinostomum marginatum Rudolphi, 1819 in the state of Amapá (HOSHINO et al, 2016).…”

Patterns of the parasite communities in a fish assemblage of a river in the Brazilian Amazon region

“…Understanding parasites community structures in wild fish populations has been the topic of numerous studies, in which the roles of interactive and/or non-interactive processes have been addressed. Parasites provide an interesting model for studies on organization and structure of parasite communities in wild fish populations (Marcogliese 2002;Bittencourt et al 2014a;Alcântara and Tavares-Dias 2015;Tavares-Dias et al 2014;Hoshino et al 2016;Ruehle et al 2017). One important point that has been highlighted is the role of interactions, mostly in relation to the trophic level of the fish population, in determining the parasite abundance and species richness (Luque and Poulin 2008;Valtonen et al 2010;Poulin and Leung 2011;Timi et al 2011;Beevi and Radhakrishnan 2012).…”

Small dams for aquaculture negatively impact fish diversity in Amazonian streams

“…Finally, opportunistic species showed no effect of dams' presence. The high abundance of sedentary and opportunistic species in upstream areas could be associated with the new environment, predominantly lentic, caused by the stream impoundment (Loureiro & Hahn 1996, Hoshino et al 2016). These slow-moving environments are favorable for these species to complete their life cycle because they do not rely on seasonal variations in water level to reproduce (Graça & Pavanelli 2007, Queiroz et al 2013.…”