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Can barber goby E lacatinus figaro control N eobedenia melleni infections on dusky grouper E pinephelus marginatus ?
Author(s) -
Souza Roberto A R,
da Annunciação Wesley F,
Lins Stephane M,
Sanches Eduardo G,
Martins Maurício L,
Tsuzuki Mônica Y
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/are.12002
Subject(s) - grouper , biology , epinephelus , fishery , goby , marine fish , fish <actinopterygii> , veterinary medicine , medicine
The interaction between cultured barber goby E lacatinus figaro (cleaner fish) and the dusky grouper E pinephelus marginatus , and the efficiency of the cleaner fish in removing ectoparasites were evaluated. When the interaction between these two species was observed, cleaner fish showed a preference for the largest groupers. In a second trial, treatments: TWC (Control) – two groupers without a cleaner fish, T1C – two groupers with one cleaner fish, T3C – two groupers with three cleaner fish and T6C – two groupers with six cleaner fish were tested in four replicates. After 8 days, monogeneans were removed and identified as N eobenedenia melleni . The highest mean abundance of parasites was found on the groupers in the TWC group (37 parasites per host) and the lowest on those in the T6C group (4.1 parasites per host). By increasing the number of cleaner fish, a higher cleaning efficiency was obtained, as observed in T6C, where almost 90% of the parasites were removed. Possibly, this removal would have been complete if the number of cleaners had not been reduced in the treatments due to the mortalities observed. This study demonstrates the possibility of using gobies to remove monogeneans and in improving grouper health.