Helminth parasites of Epinephelus morio (Pisces: Serranidae) of the Yucatan Peninsula, southeastern Mexico
Moravec, F.; Vidal-Martínez, V.M.; Vargas-Vázquez, J.; Vivas-Rodríguez, C.; González-Solís, D.; Mendoza-Franco, E.; Simá-Alvarez, R.; Güemez-Ricalde, J.
Folia Parasitologica 44(4): 255-266
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-5683 PMID: 9437838 Document Number: 470282
A systematic survey is presented of helminths from 202 red groupers, Epinephelus morio, the most important commercial marine fish in the region, collected from 10 localities off the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico during 1994-1996; 3 new helminth species found during this study have been formally described elsewhere. Thirty species of helminths were found: Monogenea 1, Cestoda 3, Trematoda 17, Nematoda 8, Acanthocephala 1. Of these, 15 species were adults, and 15 species were larval stages parasitizing piscivorous elasmobranch and teleostean fishes, birds and marine mammals as adults. A new didymozoid trematode, Allonematobothrium yucatanense sp. nov., is described and figured from the fins of this host. It most resembles A. epinepheli but differs from it in being much smaller, in having larger eggs, and in geographical distribution. It is proposed that the generic diagnosis be modified to accommodate the fact that the testes in the new species terminate posteriorly at a short distance anterior to the genital junction (and not in the region of the genital junction as in the type species). Most findings represent new host and geographical records. Philometra margolisi, a nematode parasitizing the gonads, is the most important parasite affecting the reproduction of the host, endangering E. morio in aquaculture. Larval anisakid nematodes (Anisakis, Pseudoterranova, Hysterothylacium) recorded from the red grouper in the region of the southern Gulf of Mexico are important from the viewpoint of public health.