Community structure of metazoan parasites of the Panama spadefish Parapsettus panamensis (Perciformes: Ephippidae) from the coastal zone of Tumbes, Peru

Fifty-seven specimens of Parapsettus panamensis (Ephippidae) were collected from the coastal zone of Puerto Pizarro, Tumbes, Peru (45°54'S, 81°05'W) between December 2014 and January 2015. The specimens were necropsied to study their metazoan parasites. All specimens of P. panamensis were parasitized by at least one parasite species. Eleven species of parasites were collected: 2 monogeneans, 3 digeneans, 2 nematodes, and 4 arthropods. The endoparasites represented 87.29%, of the total number of parasite specimens collected. Parapsettus panamensis is a new host record for nine parasites collected. The digenean Aponurus laguncula was the highest prevalent and abundant parasite of P. panamensis. Only the digeneans A. laguncula and Multitestis sp1. showed a positive correlation between the hosts' total length and abundance of infection. The relative condition factor (Kn) of the host correlated with the abundance of A. lagungula and Caligus haemulonis. Parapsettus panamensis had two pairs of parasite species with significant positive association, 1 pair of ectoparasites and 1 pair of endoparasites. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and the relationship between infra-community composition and explanatory variables (host length and sex) were examined by permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) applied to species abundances which shows high homogeneity among metazoan parasites infra-communities of P. panamensis.