Haematology and metazoan parasites of camurim (Centropomus undecimalis, Bloch, 1792) captured in Bragança, PA, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the health of camurins (Centropomus undecimalis) by hematology and metazoan parasite community. Twenty three fishes were collected from estuarine region of Bragança-Pará, northeastern of Oriental Amazônia during the period of February to December 2006. For the hematological analyses, the fishes were anesthetized with benzocaine bath (1 g 20 L^-1). The blood was collected from the caudal vein and smears were prepared for differential leukocyte count and thrombocytes, hematocrit and total erythrocyte, and after the fish were necropsied for the parasitological analysis. No differences (p>0.05) were observed between the healthy fish and infected fishes but, the total erythrocytes, and lymphocytes decrease and neutrophils and eosinophils increase, in the infected fishes. The thrombocytes were higher (p<0.05) in the infected fishes. The metazoan parasite community were composed by 4 taxons: monogenetic trematode (Rapdoshynochus sp), digenetic trematoda (Bucephalus sp), crustacean (Family Lernanthropidae) and nematode (Cucullanus sp). The trematoda class was the most abundant, with 250 specimens collected from the intestine, followed by monogeneans. The crustacean group showed the lower parasitic index. The camurins presented few taxons parasitizing but the infestation influenced the hematological parameters. The parasite infestation worst the health of camurins.