Metazoan parasites of flying gurnards, Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus, 1758) (Osteichthyes: Dactylopteridae) from the coastal zone of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Seventy-eigth specimens of Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus,1758) collected from the coastal zone of the State of Rio de Janeiro (21-23º S, 41-45º W), Brazil, from December 2002 to January 2003, were necropsied to study their metazoan parasites. Twenty-seven species of parasites were collected: 1 aspidogastrean, 15 digenean,

more »

... 1 monogenean, 2 cestodes, 2 acantocephalan, 4 nematodes, 1 branquiuran, and 1 isopod. All parasite species were recorded by the first time in D. volitans. The acanthocephalan Rhadinorhynchus sp. was the most dominant species with the highest prevalence in the parasite community of D. volitans. Opecoeloides sp. showed positive correlation between the host total length and parasite prevalence, while Rhadinorhynchus sp. have a negative correlation between the host´s total length and prevalence. One pair of endoparasite species (Dinurus sp.-Lecithochirium sp.) showed positive covariation between their abundances. As other parasite communities of benthic fishes from Rio de Janeiro, the parasite community of D. volitans is apparently a little−ordered species complex, characterized by the dominance of the endoparasite species.