METAZOAN PARASITIC INFECTIONS OF SWORDFISH (XIPHIAS GLADIUS L., 1758) FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND ATLANTIC GIBRALTAR WATERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR STOCK ASSESSMENT (original) (raw)

a parasitological survey on the swordfish (Xiphias gladius L., 1758) was carried out. A total of 178 specimens were examined, for metazoan parasites. The specimens were caught from four sampling areas in the Mediterranean Sea and from one area of the NE Atlantic Ocean (Gibraltar). Fourteen taxa were identified by morphological and genetic methodologies. Most of the parasites identified have been previously recorded for the host and the studied areas. Exceptions were the digenean Prosorhynchoides sp., and the nematode H. petteri, new records for the Mediterranean swordfish populations. Prevalence and intensity values of the infection by all the parasite species were estimated for each sampling areas and according to different age classes. Most of the parasites species identified were specialist for X. gladius. Among the ectoparasites, the monogeneas Tristoma coccineum and T.

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