Metazoan parasite community in the three-spot cichlid Cichlasoma trimaculatum from Tres Palos Lagoon, Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

WE ANALYZED METAZOAN PARASITE COMMUNITY COMPOSITION IN THE THREE-SPOT CICHLID CICHLASOMA TRIMACULATUM USING SEASONAL SAMPLES TAKEN BETWEEN APRIL 2000 AND NOVEMBER 2002 FROM THE TRES PALOS LAGOON, GUERRERO, MEXICO. A TOTAL OF 231 HOSTS WERE EXAMINED. OF THE 12 PARASITE SPECIES RECOVERED (40,969 INDIVIDUALS), 10 WERE HELMINTHS: ASCOCOTYLE (PHAGICOLA) LONGA, AUSTRODIPLOSTOMUM COMPACTUM, CLADOCYSTIS TRIFOLIUM, CLINOSTOMUM COMPLANATUM, CRASSICUTIS CICHLASOMAE, POSTHODIPLOSTOMUM MINIMUM, PSEUDOACANTHOSTOMUM PANAMENSE, NEOECHINORHYNCHUS GOLVANI, SOUTHWELLINA HISPIDA, AND CONTRACAECUM SP. THE REMAINING 2 WERE THE CRUSTACEANS ARGULUS SP. AND ERGASILUS SP. THE COMMUNITY WAS GENERALLY POOR IN NUMBER OF PARASITE SPECIES, AND CHARACTERIZED BY A HIGH NUMBER OF GENERALIST PARASITES AND FEWER CICHLID SPECIALISTS. FOUR OF THE 5 COMMON PARASITE SPECIES EXHIBITED SEASONALLY VARIABLE INFECTION DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE DRY AND RAINY SEASONS. THIS VARIATION IN THE DYNAMICS OF INFECTION IN THE COMMON PARASITE SPECIES GENERATED CHANGES IN COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OVER TIME. CLEAR PATTERNS WERE NOT OBSERVED, HOWEVER, INDICATING THAT THIS COMMUNITY HAS LOW PREDICTABILITY, AS HAS BEEN SUGGESTED FOR OTHER PARASITE COMMUNITIES FROM FRESHWATER FISH.