2.

3 Studies on the correlation of fish body size patterns and degree of infestation

Assemblage refers to the parasites found in microhabitat, in gastrointestinal tract or external surface of
the host. Environmental stress experienced by fish can lead to immunosuppression which increases its
susceptibility to parasite infection (Chapman, et al., 2015, as cited in Lafferty & Kuris, 1999; Marcogliese,
2004). Whereas, numerous studies have found that both biotic and abiotic factors influence the
prevalence, abundance and intensity of parasites in fish hosts. Temperature is said to be the greatest
factor that affects the parasitism in general.

Parasite assemblages of marine fishes include an important number of larval stages of helminth parasite species that
use fish
as intermediate or as paratenic hosts. In previous comparative studies, larval helminths have typically been lumped
with other
endoparasites, and there has been therefore no study of the biodiversity and relative abundance of larval helminths
and of the
factors that may influence them.

Among all the potential correlates of larval helminth infection investigated in this study, only two were significant
when controlling for host phylogenetic influences: Host body length was correlated positively with larval helminth
abundance, and fish species with a restricted geographical distribution (Atlantic coast of Brazil mainly) had greater
larval
helminth abundance than their relatives with a broader (whole Atlantic or cosmopolitan) distribution

patterns. When we used phylogenetically independent

contrasts, a substantially different picture emerged: only two
host features, host body size and geographical distribution,
appeared to influence larval helminth abundance, and none of
the host features studied showed any relationship with larval
helminth richness. These results are not too surprising because
body size is a known predictor of total parasite species richness
in the marine fish from Rio de Janeiro, as pointed out by
Luque et al. (2004), as well as in other sets of fish species (see
Poulin 1997, Morand 2000).
Among hehninth endoparasites offish, parasite
body size correlated positively with prevalence and negatively with intensity of
infection. Among copepod ectoparasites of fish, body size correlated positively with
both prevalence and intensity. These trends were observed after controlling for the
confounding influences of phylogeny and sampling effort. These contrasting patterns
may result from the more intense link between body size and intensity-dependent
regulation in endoparasites than in ectoparasites. The results of this comparative
analysis suggest that parasite body size could be an important factor determining
aspects of parasite abundance and distribution, including aggregation.
there has been therefore no study of the biodiversity and relative abundance of larval helminths and of
the

factors that may influence them

Many studies focuses on identifying the parasite species than looking for the correlation of fish patterns
versus the degree of infestation.

Parasite assemblages of freshwater fishes include a significant number of larval stages of

helminth parasite species that use fish as an intermediate or paratenic hosts (Luque & Poulin,
2004). Larval helminths are usually lumped with endoparasites while ectoparasites have benthic
life stages concerning demersal species of fishes (Smit & Davies, 2004). Many studies focuses on
identifying the parasite species than looking for the correlation of fish patterns versus the degree
of infestation. According to Luque and Poulin (2004), among the correlates of helminth parasite
infection investigated, there are only two factors significant. Host body size was correlated
positively with the larval helminth intensity. The second factor that shows correlation to the degree
of infestation is the geographical distribution of the hosts within the area. Helminth endoparasites
showed a result of a positive correlation to body size with an occurrence of infection and negative
with the degree of infection. The copepod ectoparasites also showed similar results above but the
difference lies on the correlation with both of the occurrence and the degree of infection. The
contrasting patterns result from the intense connection between the body size and the intensity-
dependent regulation in endoparasites than in ectoparasites. The results in the study suggests that
the fish body size might be a significant factor in determining the aspects of parasite degree of
infestation and distribution (Poulin, 1999).