Parasite Communities of the Pacific Mole Crab, Emerita rathbunae (Anomura: Hippidae), in Sandy Beaches from Guerrero and Michoacán, Mexico

Juan Violante-Gonzalez¹, Guadalupe Quiterio-Rendon², Scott Monks², Sergio García-Ibañez¹, Griselda Pulido-Flores², Agustín A. Rojas-Herrera¹, Edvino Larumbe-Moran³

¹Unidad Académica de Ecología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Acapulco, México.
²Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, México.
³Centro de Estudios Tecnológicos del Mar, Lázaro Cárdenas, México.

DOI: 10.4236/ojms.2015.54037                

Abstract

The species composition and infection levels were determined for helminth parasites in the mole crab, Emerita rathbunae, collected from seven sandy beaches from Guerrero and Michoacán, México. A total of 494 crabs were collected between August and December of 2009. The number of crabs that were examined from each beach varied from 40 in Lázaro Cárdenas to 114 in El Revolcadero. The cephalothorax length varied significantly between the sampled beaches, from 32.9 ± 5.5 mm (Ixtapa) to 40.5 ±1.7 mm(Las Trancas). Four species of larval parasites were identified: 1 metacercaria (Microphallus nicolli), 1 cystacanth (Profilicollis sp.), 1 cestode (Trypanorhyncha) and 1 nematode (Proleptus sp.). Infection levels (prevalence and mean abundance) varied significantly between beaches, due to possible differences in the availability of final or intermediate hosts in beaches visited by tourist and those beaches not visited by tourists, as well as the size of individual hosts. Helminth communities, at levels of component and infracommunity, were characterized by a low number of species (3 to 4) and a high dominance by the metacercaria of M. nicolli. The body size of the hosts was positively correlated with the number of parasites and species richness of helminths, indicating that larger crabs accumulate a higher number of parasites during the lifetime, and that they harbor a higher number of species of helminth than smaller crabs.

Keywords

Parasite Community, Emerita rathbunae, Hippidae, Mexican Pacific Coast

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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