ESTRUTURA DAS COMUNIDADES DE ENDOPARASITOS DE TRÊS ESPÉCIES DE PEIXES EM RIACHOS AFLUENTES DO RIO PIRAPÓ, ESTADO DO PARANÁ, BRASIL

An ichthyoparasitological study on 166 fishes, belonging to Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859 (Poeciliidae), Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) (Pimelodidae) and Hypostomus ancistroides (Ihering, 1911) (Loricariidae) in tributary streams of the Pirapo River, located in and around urban city of Maringa, Parana State, Brazil. The research aimed to recognize the endoparasite community of fishes analyzed, as well as to improve the knowledge about host/parasite relationships. We analyzed the correlation between the total length of the fish with levels of parasitism (prevalence, abundance). Due to the existence of sexual dimorphism in the species P. reticulata, we investigated the possible influence of sex of this fish on parasitism. In addition, we also analyzed the body surface and nostril for ectoparasites studies. There were no metazoan parasites on the body surface and nostril of the species analyzed. Only 15.06% of endoparasite prevalence was observed. A pentastomid species, Sebekia oxycephala (Diesing) Sambon, 1922 and cestode belonging to the order Pseudophyllidea were found, with a prevalence of 13.89 and 0.92%, respectively. The nematode species, Cucullanus (Cucullanus) pinnai Travassos, Artigas and Pereira, 1928 had a prevalence of 39.13% in Rhamdia quelen. No parasites found in the in the fish H. ancistroides. There was no correlation between the sex of P. reticulata with the prevalence and abundance of S. oxycephala. The hosts' lengths were not correlated with the prevalence and abundance of endoparasites. Thus, because parasites found were generalists, there appeared to be no relationship between parasitism with features/peculiarities of analyzed hosts (fishes), as would have been expected with high specificity parasites.