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Email the author (Login required) Metazoan parasites of the red grouper, Epinephelus morio, in a pilot aquaculture system in Yucatán, Mexico
Submited: 2025-06-09 15:57:07 | Published: 2025-10-31 20:21:54
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3856/vol53-issue5-fulltext-3483
Abstract
The red grouper, Epinephelus morio, locally known as "mero rojo", represents one of the most important commercial fish species in the Yucatán Peninsula, although they have been overfished. Populations of this economically important fish have been studied in the wild, and the presence of a wide array of metazoan parasite taxa has been reported. The technology for producing red grouper seed for a complete aquaculture cycle is being assessed at the pilot system of the Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación (UMDI-UNAM) facility, in Sisal, in northwest Yucatán, Mexico. In two isolated events that occurred at the facility in 2021 and 2023, 14 individuals of E. morio, intended to be introduced into the system, died during the quarantine period; our sampling for parasites was opportunistic. Specimens were necropsied, and their metazoan parasites were recovered. Here, we report on the parasite fauna of these individuals. Parasite identification was conducted using morphological traits and, in some cases, molecular data. Nine species were found, including 1 monogenean, 3 trematodes, 1 cestode, 1 acanthocephalan, 2 nematodes, and 1 copepod. The highest prevalence of infection was observed in the acanthocephalan Gorgorhynchus medius and the monogenean Pseudorhabdosynochus yucatanensis, with rates of 70 and 75% for the first and second mortality events, respectively. The parasite fauna of fishes from the aquaculture system is akin to that of wild populations of E. morio in the Yucatán Peninsula. A brief discussion on the importance of considering parasitic diseases in aquaculture systems is presented, and we briefly discuss the potential zoonotic importance of the larvae of the nematode Pseudoterranova sp.
