Helminth parasites of the Atlantic chub mackerel, Scomber colias Gmelin, 1789 from Canary Islands, Central North Atlantic, with comments on their relations with other Atlantic regions

Abstract

AbstractEleven parasite taxa were found infecting 68 Atlantic chub mackerel, Scomber colias Gmelin, 1789 from the Canary Islands, Central North Atlantic. The most abundant parasites were the gill monogenean Pseudokuhnia minor (P = 54.4%), larval anisakid nematodes (P = 11.8%) in the body cavity, a larval tetraphyllidean infecting bile ducts (P = 8.8%) and didymozoid digeneans infecting the gills (P = 7.4%). No correlation between fish length and abundance of infection with these parasites was found. Within the Atlantic, the comparison of present results with previous reports on the occurrence of parasites in this fish host, might suggest that there is more than one population unit of Atlantic chub mackerel in the Eastern Atlantic.