First account of the metazoan parasite fauna of oilfish Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1829 (Perciformes: Gempylidae) in South African waters |
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| Authors: | Irfan Nunkoo Mark J Weston Cecile C Reed Carl D van der Lingen Sven Kerwath |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;2. Marine Research Institute and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;3. Fisheries Research and Development, Branch Fisheries Management, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cape Town, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | Parasites are an important but neglected component of ecosystems that can be used as indicators of host biology and ecology. In the present study, the metazoan parasite assemblage of Ruvettus pretiosus, an understudied but widely distributed predatory gempylid, caught off South Africa was surveyed. A total of seven parasite taxa, including four new infection records (Bolbosoma capitatum, Rhadinorhynchus sp., Hepatoxylon trichiuri and Anisakis sp.), two new locality records (B. capitatum and Rhipidocotyle sp.) as well as the ectoparasitic copepod Sagum foliaceus and the cestode Tentacularia coryphaenae were recovered from the eight specimens examined. |
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| Keywords: | Benguela mesopelagic parasitism teleost |
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