Diversity of digeneans parasitizing Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus (Teleostean, Mullidae) off the coast of Algerian.

Abstract

Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus (Perciformes, Mullidae) are a common marine teleost of great commercial importance in many coastal areas. We studied the communities of Digenea species in two congeneric Mullidae hosts collected on the Algerian coast in the southern Mediterranean. Five hundred and seven M. barbatus and one hundred and twenty-three M. surmuletus were examined. During this work, we collected six species of parasitic Digenea which are related to five different families: Hemiuridae represented by Lecithocladium excisum, Fellodistomidae by Proctoeces maculatus and which is reported only from M. surmuletus, Derogenidae by Derogenes latus, Monorchiidae by Proctotrema bacilliovatum and finally Opecoelidae represented by two species Opecoeloides furcatus and Poracanthium furcatum. A critical systematic study revealed an apparent overlap in morphometric data of the six Digenean species from two host fishes. Therefore, the two mullet species are likely to share the same parasite community, and the stenoxenic specificity of Digenean parasites is briefly argued. Prevalence values showed that in the midst of six hundred and thirty Mullidae, one hundred and ninety-six are parasitized (31.11 %). Statistical tests showed that the most parasitized fish hosts are M. surmuletus with a high prevalence value (47.15 %), and on the other hand, they proved that small fish are more parasitized than others. Also, the lack of homogeneity between the different parasites is reported. We also note that the use of factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) allowed us, for the first time to highlight the distribution of the parasite species identified in the two mullets according to the seasons.