Parasitic fauna of Sardinella aurita Valenciennes, 1847 from Algerian coast

Abstract

The parasitic fauna of Sardinella aurita Valenciennes, 1847 from the Gulf of Bejaia (eastern coast of Algeria) was studied. The parasites collected from 400 host fish specimens, comprised 10 taxa including 6 species of Digenea, 1 species of Copepoda, 1 species of Nematoda, 1 larva of Cestoda and an unidentified Microsporidian species. The Nematoda Hysterothylacium sp. and the Copepoda Clavellisa emarginata (Krøyer, 1873) are newly reported for S. aurita. The Digenean parasites were numerous, diverse and constituted the most dominant group (P = 33.63%). The checklist of all known parasite species collected from S. aurita in the Mediterranean Sea includes 13 species, among which eight are Digeneans.