Parasite diversity and community structure of translocated (Burchell) in South Africa: Testing co-introduction, parasite spillback and enemy release hypotheses.

(Burchell) is one of several freshwater fish species that have been translocated beyond its natural geographic range in South Africa. The present study investigated the parasitic communities of two translocated populations (one in the Riviersonderend River, Western Cape and the other from the Great Fish River, Eastern Cape) as well as its native source population from Gariep Dam, Free State. A total of nine, seven, and eight parasitic taxa were found to parasitise various organs of from the three populations, respectively. The diversity and abundances of parasitic species in the two translocated populations were similar, but distinct community assemblages were observed. Parasite community composition from the Great Fish River was similar to that of the source population from Gariep Dam, whereas the parasitic community from in the Riviersonderend River was distinct from that of Gariep Dam. This, together with the introduction history into the Western Cape, suggests that translocated is sourced from various systems across South Africa, or that suitable intermediate hosts are present in the recipient ecosystems to sustain host-specific co-introduced parasitic taxa of In total, the resilience of 11 specialist parasite species of is demonstrated in their persistence upon co-introduction into the two novel environments with their host, and support for the enemy release hypothesis is confirmed in the loss of known parasite taxa in translocated populations. The presence of the co-invasive fish lice Thiele, 1900 is reported from in Gariep Dam and the Asian tapeworm (Yamaguti, 1934) was found from translocated in the Riviersonderend River, Western Cape and lastly, a suspected case of parasite spillback from an unknown native host is reported.