Community ecology of the metazoan parasites of pink cusk-eel, Genypterus brasiliensis (Osteichthyes: Ophidiidae), from the coastal zone of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Fifty-five specimens of pink cusk-eel, Genypterus brasiliensis Regan, 1903 (Osteichthyes: Ophidiidae) collected from the coastal zone of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (approx. 21-23 degrees S, 41-45 degrees W), from September 2000 to January 2001, were necropsied to study their parasites. All fish were parasitized by one or more metazoan. Fourteen species of parasites were collected. G. brasiliensis is a new host record for nine parasite species. The larval stages of cestodes and the nematodes were the majority of the parasite specimens collected, with 38.4% and 36.5%, respectively. Cucullanus genypteri was the dominant species with highest prevalence and/or abundance. The parasites of G. brasiliensis showed the typical overdispersed pattern of distribution. Six parasite species showed correlation between the host's total body length and prevalence and abundance. Host sex did not influence prevalence and parasite abundance of any parasite species. The mean diversity in the infracommunities of G. brasiliensis was H= 0.364 +/- 0.103, with correlation with the host's total length and without differences in relation to sex of the host. One pair of adult endoparasites (C. genypteri and A. brasiliensis) showed positive covariations between their abundances. Negative association or covariation was not found. Differences between the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the parasite community of G. brasiliensis from Rio de Janeiro and Argentina suggest the existence of two population stocks of pink cusk-eel in the South America Atlantic Ocean.