BATHYMETRIC DISTRIBUTION OF LARVAL ANISAKIS ACROSS NINE SPECIES OF SKATES IN THE SOUTHWESTERN ATLANTIC

IRIGOITIA M.M.; BRAICOVICH P. E.; CANEL D.; MATTIUCCI S; TIMI J.T.

Congreso; 15th International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA 2022); 2022

World Federation of Parasitologists

Introduction: Host size and trophic level are known determinants of abundance for many parasite species. For larval Anisakis in teleost fish, depth has often been shown as an additional relevant driver of parasite burdens, which increase in deeper waters. In the Argentine sea, temperature decreases along the bathymetric gradient due to both, the depth itself and the presence of subantarctic waters (Malvinas current) flowing northwards along the continental slope. These waters have been related to higher loads of larval Anisakis in several teleost species and some elasmobranchs. Aim: to evaluate the drivers of distribution of larval Anisakis spp. across skate species along a bathymetric gradient in the southwestern Atlantic.Methods: A total of 379 skates (2 Rajidae and 7 Arhynchobatidae), belonging to 9 species, were measured and examined for larval Anisakis. The prevalence (P) and mean abundance (MA) were calculated for each species and distance based linear models were fitted on Euclidean distance of these indices, with depth, trophic level and mean length as explanatory variables.Results: Marginal tests showed that only depth was significantly related to both, P (P