Anisakid Presence in the European Conger, , from Spanish Mediterranean Waters.

The European conger, , is a benthic marine fish species with a geographical distribution extending through the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Despite being extensively distributed and widely appreciated by Spanish consumers, studies regarding parasite presence in this fish are scarce. In the present work, a hundred and eight specimens from the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Spain (Catalan waters) were surveyed for the presence of nematode parasites. Several species were morphologically identified: third-stage larvae of type I (sensu Berland, 1961) ( = 131), third-stage larvae of type II (sensu Berland, 1961) ( = 18), third- and fourth-stage larvae and adults of spp. ( = 48), adults of sp. ( = 391), and adults of ( = 69). Moreover, some fish and decapode species were also observed as part of the host's diet, with the most detected preys being , , sp., and . This represents the first survey of nematode parasites infecting from the northeastern Spanish Mediterranean waters. Among the parasite species detected, the presence of species should be highlighted as the ingestion of parasitized with these larvae could potentially lead to anisakiasis in consumers.