Parasite Fauna of the Dusky Grouper ( Lowe 1834) from the Central Mediterranean Sea.

This study aimed to investigate parasite fauna of from the central Mediterranean Sea between Messina and Syracuse. In the present survey; parasite fauna of dusky grouper was investigated for two main reasons: the economic value of this species and the current lack of studies regarding the capture area. Seventy dusky groupers were caught from May 2018 to February 2020. Forty-seven out of the 70 specimens (67.2%) were infected with one or more parasite species. The most abundant species was (42.9%), followed by (28.6%), sp. (18.6%), (5.7%), Type II larvae (5.7%). Higher prevalence of infection of and sp. was found in warm months (March to September), while and were mostly found during cold months. Weight and total length of were positively correlated with the parasitic load of and sp. The different prevalence of parasite infection found between warm and cold months is probably related to the diet of the dusky grouper; which is characterized by mollusks that are intermediate hosts for parasite species found. None of the parasites found in the present survey is responsible for zoonosis.