Fish parasites in the bathyal zone: The halosaur Halosauropsis macrochir (Günther, 1878) from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

A total of 42 Halosauropsis macrochir from a single position on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) were collected for studies on parasites and feeding ecology. A total of 9 different parasite species were found, with most of them belonging to the Digenea (4 species) and Nematoda (3). The host specific Degeneria halosauri, (Digenea) and Cystidicolidae indet. (Nematoda) were the predominant species, reaching a prevalence of 100.0% and 57.1% with intensities of infection of 1–12 and 1–10, respectively. Less host specific parasites such as Gonocerca phycidis (Digenea) and Tetraphyllidea indet. (Cestoda) occurred at low rates of infection. The parasite fauna of this bathyal fish can be described as predominantly adult and host specific, with larval and less host specific components. A total of 16 different food groups were identified, most of them of benthic origin or associated with the benthopelagial. The predominant prey organisms belonged to the Crustacea (e.g., Copepoda, Gammaridea, Amphipoda and Isopoda), which serve as main parasite vectors for H. macrochir. This deep-sea fish seems to follow a general pattern of fish parasites in the deep sea, with most isolated parasites belonging to the digeneans, nematodes and a cestode. The parasite composition is caused by the narrow depth range of the species and the restricted distribution of the fish family Halosauridae. The species richness was found to be lower than other demersal fish from the deep sea and shallow waters, however, higher than those from deep-sea fish living in the pelagial.