PARASITES COMMUNITY IN Chaetobranchus flavescens HECKEL, 1840, (CICHLIFORMES: CICHLIDAE) FROM THE EASTERN AMAZON, BRAZIL

The aim of this study was to investigate the component communities of parasites in Chaetobranchus flavescens from a tributary of the Amazon River system, northern Brazil. Out of 39 fish examined, 1,124,710 parasites were collected, such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Piscinoodinium pillulare (Protozoa), Gussevia spilocirra, Gussevia elephus (Monogenea), metacercariae of Clinostomum marginatum and Posthodiplostomum sp. (Digenea), Pseudoproleptus sp. larvae. (Nematoda), Echinorhynchus paranensis, Gorytocephalus spectabilis (Acanthocephala), Braga patagonica (Isopoda) and leeches Glossiphonidae (Hirudinea). However, I. multifiliis was the dominant and abundant species, while B. patagonica and Hirudinea gen. sp. were the least prevalent and abundant parasites. These parasites had an aggregate dispersion, with mean richness of 4.7 +/- 1.5 per fish, Brillouin diversity of 0.32 +/- 0.29 and evenness of 0.15 +/- 0.13. No correlation between the length and the parasite species richness and the Brillouin diversity was found, as well as regarding host size and abundance of parasites. Body condition of the hosts was not affected by the moderate parasitism. The low diversity of endoparasites indicates that C. flavescens is a host with low position in the food web. Finally, this was the first study on parasites of C. flavescens.