Metazoan parasite survey of selected macro-inshore fish of southeastern Australia, including species of commercial importance FINAL REPORT FRDC Project No. 2007/225 KS Hutson, SR Catalano & ID Whittington 28 February 2011 Metazoan parasite survey of selected macro-inshore fish of southeastern Australia, including species of commercial importance KS Hutson, SR Catalano & ID Whittington Final Report for the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation FRDC Project No. 2007/225 ISBN 978-0-646-55210-1 28 February 2011 Cover image: A parasitic isopod, Ceratothoa sp., from the mouth of silver trevally Pseudocaranx georgianus captured in Coffin Bay, South Australia. Image provided by Brian Saunders. ii This publication may be cited as: K.S. Hutson, S.R. Catalano and I.D. Whittington. 2011. Metazoan parasite survey of selected macro-inshore fish of southeastern Australia, including species of commercial importance. Final Report to FRDC (Project No. 2007/225). James Cook University, Townsville. 259 pp. James Cook University Parasitology Laboratory Discipline of Aquaculture School of Marine and Tropical Biology James Cook University Townsville QLD 4811 tel: + 61 7 4781 6216 fax: +61 4781 4585 Disclaimer: The authors do not warrant that the information in this document is free from errors or omissions. The authors do not accept any form of liability be it contractual, tortious or otherwise, for the contents of this document or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The information, opinions and advice contained in this document may not relate, or be relevant, to a readers particular circumstances. Opinions expressed by the authors are the individual opinions expressed by those persons and are not necesssarily those of the publisher, the insitutions represented or the research funding agenicies. © 2011 James Cook University This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the first author. Authors: Kate S. Hutson, Sarah R. Catalano and Ian D. Whittington Reviewers: This report was peer reveiwed through the Aquatic Animal Health Subcommitte FRDC by an anonymous reviewer. Parts of this report that have been submitted for publication have also been peer-reviewed anonymously. Distribution: FRDC, FRAB representatives, Australian Biological Resources Study, libraries and scientific contributors Circulation: Public Domain iii Table of Contents Non-technical Summary ................................................................................................................. 1 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................ 4 1.2 Need ......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Objectives................................................................................................................................ 7 2 METAZOAN PARASITES OF IMPORTANT FISHES IN AUSTRALIA .............................. 8 2.1 Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 8 2.3 Methods ............................................................................................................................ 9 2.3.1 Fish collections and deposition of fish tissue ........................................................... 9 2.3.2 Fish necropsies ........................................................................................................ 12 2.3.3 Parasite preservation, staining and mounting ......................................................... 12 2.3.4 Parasite identification.............................................................................................. 12 2.4 Results and Discussion ................................................................................................... 13 2.4.1 Fishes sampled ........................................................................................................ 13 2.4.2 Target fish species sampled .................................................................................... 15 Arripidae ....................................................................................................................... 15 Carangidae .................................................................................................................... 23 Coryphaenidae .............................................................................................................. 32 Hemiramphidae ............................................................................................................. 46 Latidae........................................................................................................................... 49 Rachycentridae .............................................................................................................. 53 Sciaenidae ..................................................................................................................... 62 Sillaginidae ................................................................................................................... 66 Sparidae......................................................................................................................... 69 2.4.3 Non-target fish species sampled .............................................................................. 74 Carangidae .................................................................................................................... 74 Centrolophidae .............................................................................................................. 75 Cheilodactylidae ........................................................................................................... 75 iv Kyphosidae ................................................................................................................... 77 Latridae ......................................................................................................................... 78 Mugilidae ...................................................................................................................... 78 Oplegnathidae ............................................................................................................... 79 Percichthyidae ............................................................................................................... 79 Platycephalidae ............................................................................................................. 81 Scorpaenidae ................................................................................................................. 81 Sparidae......................................................................................................................... 82 Triakidae ....................................................................................................................... 82 Urolophidae................................................................................................................... 84 3 BIOGEOGRAPHICAL RELEVANCE OF PARASITE-HOST CHECKLISTS: A CASE STUDY ......................................................................................................................................... 85 3.1 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 85 3.2 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 85 3.3 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................... 87 3.3.1 Fish collection .......................................................................................................... 87 3.3.2 Dissection and parasite preservation ........................................................................ 88 3.3.3 Statistical Analyses .................................................................................................. 89 3.4 Results ............................................................................................................................ 90 3.4.1 Variation in parasite abundance ............................................................................... 91 3.5 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 100 4 PARASITE REDESCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................ 105 4.1 Redescriptions of two species of microcotylid monogeneans from three arripid hosts 105 4.1.1 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 105 4.1.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 105 4.1.3 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................... 106 4.1.3.1