Scarcity of parasite assemblages in the Adriatic-reared European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and sea bream (Sparus aurata)

The shaping forces of parasite community structure still is the main subject in the ecological parasitology whilst community predictability and repeatability showed that hardly a generally applicable role is ever going to be assessed. Defining and describing parasite communities can be very useful from the epizootiological point, in order to help in the assessment of the medical and economical impact of certain parasitosis, moreover when hosts are economically valuable species. Since parasite assemblages in reared European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and sea bream (Sparus aurata) in Adriatic cage systems can play an important role in the economic feasibility of the rearing process, we evaluated their character through assessing diversity indices, nestedness of parasite communities and their differences in respect to season and composition, as well as fish growth. We observed colonization of a new monogenean species (Furnestinia echeneis) and general impoverishment of parasites populations over time in the Adriatic-reared fish parasite assemblages. Parasite assemblages differed significantly between seasons for both fish species, while species richness, evenness, diversity indices and nestedness of parasitic communities in the sea bream showed to be significantly higher compared to those in the sea bass. Such characteristics define parasite communities of both Adriatic-reared fish as species poor although structured and ordered assemblages.