Ontogenetic and between-year variations in the infracommunities of metazoan parasites of two marine fish host species from Chile Variaciones ontogeneticas y entre anos en las infracomunidades de parasitos metazoos de dos especies de peces marinos de Chile
Balboa, L.; George-Nascimento, M.
Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. Marzo; 711: 27-37
1998
Accession: 038510126
We analyze whether the relationships between the host ontogeny and the richness, abundance, diversity and composition of the parasite infracommunities persist between years of sampling, in two species of marine fishes (Scorpaenidae) from the Southeastern Pacific Ocean. Two samples of the rockfish Sebastes canensis (Gmelin 1788) were obtained in 1992 and 1993, and other two samples of the rockfish Helicolenus lengerichi Norman 1937 were collected in 1988 and 1993, from artisanal landings at Talcahuano, Chile. In S. capensis, the more abundant taxon was the acanthocephalan Corynosoma sp. In H. lengerichi, the more frequent and abundant parasite taxa were the nematode Anisakis sp., at larval stage, and the ectoparasite Juanettia continentalis. Ontogenetic variations in the composition, richness, abundance and diversity were found only in parasite infracommunities of H. lengerichi. There were significant differences in composition of infracommunities between years in the two host species. However, no significant differences in diversity, richness and total abundance in the infracommunities were found between years in any host species. These results suggest that quantitative attributes of infracommunities would be a more persistent characteristic than their taxonomic composition. The importance of the energetic demands of the host in determining infracommunity patterns are discussed.