Metazoans parasites of the “lumptail searobin” Prionotus stephanophrys (Lockington, 1881) (Perciformes: Triglidae) from the Villa María del Triunfo Fishing Terminal (VMT), Lima, Peru

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine the parasitic community of the “Lumptail searobin” Prionotus stephanophrys (Lockington, 1881) (Perciformes: Triglidae) from the Fishing Terminal of Villa María del Triunfo, Lima, Peru. Forty specimens of P. stephanophrys were collected, which were captured in the ports of Piura and Tumbes in 2023 and 2024. After dissection, three species of nematodes, two of monogeneans, two of acanthocephalans, two of cestodes, seven of trematodes, two of copepods, and one hirudinean species were identified. The monogenean O. elmernoblei was the most prevalent (30%), followed by the nematode A. simplex (22.5%). The Poulin discrepancy index (DP) was determined in the most prevalent parasites, establishing that O. elmernoblei and A. simplex presented an aggregated distribution. The correlation between total body length and sex of P. stephanophrys with parasitological indices was also evaluated. It was observed that the prevalence of O. elmernoblei is associated with the total lenght of the host; unlike sex, which showed no relationship with any of the variables. This is the first research work focused on the parasitic fauna of Prionotus stephanophrys.