A note on some parasites of Merluccius capensis (Pisces) and their zoogeographical significance

• Main Author: Meyer-Rochow, V.B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1972
• Subjects: Fisheries; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/35438

During the Southeastern Atlantic Expedition of the German fishery research vessel "Walther Herwig" in 1967 the main emphasis lay on selective fishing of the South Africanhake Merluccius capensis (von BRANDT 1967). Some of the fish were found to be infested by ecto-and endoparasites both of which were collected whenever possible. Large plerocercoids of Dibothriorhynchus grossum whose adult stage lives in the South Atlantic Ocean in Lamna cornubica (L.SZIDAT, personal communication) were quite common as were cysticercoids of a Tetrarhynchus sp., which had also been reported in Cynoscion striatus off the Argentiniancoast (MACDONAGH 1927, cited in Szidat, personal communication). Brownish nematodes were infesting the ovaries of several fish, but could not be identified.The most common ectoparasite to be observed was the parasitic isopod Livoneca raynaudii (fam. Cymothoidae) whose early larval stages were also found.