Species richness and similarity of parasite communities in ten species of carangid fish (Carangiformes) from the Mexican Southern Pacific.

Abstract

Species richness and similarity in metazoan parasite communities of fish can be influenced by several biotic (age, body size, vagility, social and feeding behaviour, among others), and local abiotic factors (temperature, salinity, climatic events, etc.). The parasite communities of ten species of the family Carangidae from Acapulco Bay, Mexico, were quantified and analysed between May 2014 and August 2024. A total of 1,148 fish specimens were examined and 78 parasite species were identified (44 endoparasites and 34 species of ectoparasites). At the component community level, species richness ranged from 11 in Euprepocaranx dorsalis (Gill) to 27 in Caranx caninus Günther. Parasite communities were dominated mainly by monogenean species. The richness and parasite species composition differed between the ten species of host. The habitat type, body size and host diet variety were the main factors responsible of these differences. Similarity in species composition varied even between hosts of the same genus, suggesting that phylogenetic relatedness and sympatry were not important determinants of parasite communities in these carangid fish. Therefore, host ecology has a greater influence on the structure and species composition of parasite communities than its phylogenetic history.