Community of metazoan parasites of the cockfish Callorhinchus callorynchus (Linnaeus ,1758) (Chimaeriformes: Callorhinchidae) from artisanal fishing in Pisco, Ica, Peru

Abstract

: There is an extensive lack of information on the parasitic fauna accompanying cartilaginous fish in Peru. The objective of this work was to identify the community of parasite metazoans of the cockfish Callorhinchus callorynchus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Chimaeriformes: Callorhinchidae) from artisanal fishing in San Andrés, Pisco, Ica, Peru. Thirty-one specimens of C. callorynchus were collected between June 2018 and October 2019. Following nec-ropsy, six species of parasites were obtained: Gyrocotyle rugosa Diesing, 1850 (Cestoda), Callorhynchocotyle callo- rhynchi (Manter, 1955) (Monogenea), Callorhynchicola branchialis Brinkmann, 1952 (Monogenea), Branchellion lobata Moore, 1952 (Hirudinea), Prokroyeria meridionalis (Ramírez, 1975) (Copepoda) and an unidentified spe- cies of the Anisakidae family (Nematoda). The G. rugosa tapeworm was the most prevalent parasite (77.42%), followed by the monogenean Cle. callorhynchi (54.84%) and finally the copepod P. meridionalis (16.13%). The total body length and sex of Ca. callorynchus showed no association with respect to the parasitological indices of prevalence, intensity, and mean abundance. Cle. callorhynchi and Cla. branchialis were registered for the second time in the same host, but for the first time in the department of Ica. However, the present study constitutes the first geographic record of G. rugosa , B. lobata , and P. meridionalis , and a new host for an unidentified species of the Anisakidae family in cockfish in Peru.