Similarity of the parasite communities of codlings Urophycis brasiliensis and U. mystacea (Gadiformes: Phycidae) from the Brazilian coastal zone.

A total of 182 specimens of codling, 107 Urophycis brasiliensis (Kaup, 1858), and 75 U. mystacea Miranda Ribeiro, 1903 from the coastal zone of the states of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil was examined to study the composition and structure of their parasite communities. A total of 1,684 individual parasites were collected: 506 in U. brasiliensis and 444 in U. mystacea from RJ; 328 in U. brasiliensis and 406 in U. mystacea from SC. There was a total of 21 species in the parasite communities of codlings from Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Santa Catarina (SC) localities. Urophycis brasiliensis presented a total of 18 species of parasites, being 16 and 12 species in RJ and SC, respectively. The parasite infracommunities of U. brasiliensis and U. mystacea from Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina were significant different in the mean total abundance and Brillouin diversity index values. Urophycis brasiliensis and U. mystacea from Santa Catarina present differences in the mean parasite richness, mean total abundance, values of the Brillouin diversity index and the values of Bray-Curtis and Jaccard indexes. However, it was observed higher similarity between the parasite infracommunities of U. brasiliensis and U. mystacea from Santa Catarina. Samples studied of U. mystacea showed significant differences suggested the presence of different stocks of this species, however, this possibility needs to be confirmed with studies using multivariate analysis of additional samples along the geographical distribution area of this species. These results emphasized the necessity for understanding the influence of ecological factors on the composition and structure of parasite communities of the marine fish from Brazil.