Parasitic fauna of Pimelodus maculatus (Osteichthyes: Pimelodidae) from the Itajaí-Açu river in Blumenau, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

Little is known on parasitic fauna of freshwater fish in the State of Santa Catarina. Specimens of “mandi”, Pimelodus maculatus, were collected in the Itajaí-Açu River, Blumenau, state of Santa Catarina, from March through December, 2005, for parasitological analysis. From a total of 82 examined fish, all of them were parasitized for at least one parasite species. During the sampling, the pH, dissolved oxygen, electric conductivity and water temperature, as well as the environment temperature and weather conditions two days before each sample were measured. The highest values of prevalence and mean intensity of infection were observed for Monogenoidea (96.3%; 100.23), followed by Henneguya sp. (63.4%), Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) pimelodus (51.2%; 3.02), Trichodina sp. (30.5%), Parspina argentinensis (24.4%; 3.30), Diplostomum sp. (17%; 1.00), Dichelyne pimelodi (8.5%; 1.00) and Goezeella agostinhoi (6.1%; 1.00). There was positive correlation between the total length of the hosts and the mean intensity of infection by Monogenoidea.