Community structure of metazoan parasites in the Splittail bass Hemanthias peruanus (Serranidae) from northern Peru

Objective.To assess the community structure of helminths and parasitic crustaceans in the splittail bass Hemanthias peruanus (Steindachner, 1875) from northern Peru. Materials and methods.75 specimens (34 males and 41 females) of H. peruanus were captured from Puerto Cabo Blanco, Piura, Peru. Total length and sex data of the fish were recorded. For the analysis of the parasitic community, the ecological parasitological indices, aggregation indices, alpha diversity indices and association between the biometric parameters of the fish and the parasitological indices were calculated. Results. The percentage of total prevalence in splittail bass infected with at least one parasitic metazoan species was 65.33%, that is, 49 parasitized hosts. The community component of the parasitic eumetazoan fauna in the evaluated fish was dominated by the presence of ectoparasites (three species of monogeneans and one species of isopod). Endoparasite abundance (two species of trematodes, one species of tapeworms and one species of acanthocephalan) was comparatively low. Biotic factors such as fish length and sex were not found to be related to parasitological indices of any parasitic species. The lack of association is probably due to the influence of other biotic or abiotic factors. The most prevalent parasites presented an aggregate type distribution. The Chao-1 estimator indicates that the expected richness was eight. Conclusions. We registered H. peruanusas a new host for Ceratothoa gaudichaudii, Corynosoma australe, Parancylodiscoides signifer, Pronotogrammella scholzi and Scolex pleuronectis.