Component community of helminth parasites in black cuskeel Genypterus maculatus (Tschudi, 1846) from north Peru

In Peru, only 12.7% (n=207) of fish species have had some record as parasitic metazoan hosts. The objective of this investigation was to determine the community of helminth parasites in black cusk-eel Genypterus maculatus (Tschudi, 1846) of north Peru. Fifty specimens of G. maculatus from Puerto Pimentel, province of Chiclayo, department of Lambayeque, Peru were evaluated. For the analysis of the parasitic community, the parasitological ecological indexes of prevalence (P), mean abundance (MA), mean intensity (MI) of infection, the dispersion indices, the correlation between total length (TL) and sex of fish vs parasitological ecological indexes, were calculated. The component community of the parasitic helminths in the evaluated fish was dominated by the presence of endoparasitic flatworms and absence of ectoparasites. The parasitic fauna of G. maculatus included eight endoparasitic species, four trematodes, two cestodes, one acanthocephalan and one nematode species. The species with the highest prevalence and abundance were Helicometra fasciata (Rudolphi, 1819), Scolex pleuronectis Müller, 1788 and Corynosoma australe Johnston, 1937. The prevalence of infection of C. australe was found positively related to the total length of G. maculatus. The sex of G. maculatus was not found associated with the P, MA and MI of any of the helminth parasites. This is the first study of ecological aspect in the parasitic fauna of G. maculatus made in Peru.