Checklist of Crustacea parasitizing fishes from Brazil

Abstract

Here we provide a checklist of the crustacean species parasitizing both marine and freshwater fishes from Brazil. We list a total of 134 species of parasitic crustaceans associated with 205 species of fishes in Brazil. The data from this study added to the checklist of Copepoda in Brazilian fishes published in 2007 give a total of 251 species of parasitic crustaceans associated with 279 fish species currently known in Brazil. The majority of species of Crustacea listed as parasites of Brazilian fishes are Copepoda with 186 species registered. A total of 741 parasite-host associations were observed. Copepoda was the group with more host-parasite associations, totaling 419 associations. When comparing these data with those recorded for the fishes from other parasite hotspots of Neotropics (Mexico and Caribbean), it is possible to affirm that the fauna of parasitic crustaceans of Brazilian fishes is the richest in the region.