Parasite Community Analysis of The Gray Snapper (Perciformes,Lutjanidae) in a Tropical Region of The Southern Gulf of Mexico.

The gray snapper is a commercially important fish species along its distribution range in the western Atlantic Ocean. However, despite its importance, there is still little knowledge about its parasitic fauna for the Mexican coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. The aims of this research were to generate a list of the parasitic fauna present in juvenile gray snapper from a coastal lagoon located in southeastern Mexico, to evaluate the infection levels of parasites and to determine the relationship between the abundance of parasites and the fish size and condition factor. Samples of (12 - 29.2 mm) were obtained in two periods of the year (dry and rainy seasons) to examine the intra-annual variability of its parasitic fauna. A total of 17 parasite species were recorded belonging to six taxonomic groups (Myxozoa, Monogenea, Digenea, Cestoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala). The highest levels of infection (abundance, prevalence and intensity of infection) were found for the monogeneans and . There were no significant correlations between the total abundance of parasites and the fish condition and size (total length) in not any of the two seasons studied, suggesting that the body size and the biological condition index of the host did not directly influence the abundance of parasites in early life stages of . Moreover, the species of parasites found that could be zoonotic for humans through the consumption of raw or inadequately cooked fish were the nematodes sp. type 1, sp. type 2, and sp. The presence of the monogeneans and was also highlighted because these ectoparasite species are known to cause harm to fish under culture systems. All the parasite species found in this study, except nematodes, were new records of geographic distribution.