Caligus minimus (COPEPODA, CALIGIDAE) INFESTATION OF EUROPEAN SEA BASS (Dicentrarchus labrax) FROM BEYMELEK LAGOON LAKE (ANTALYA, TURKEY): EFFECTS OF HOST SEX, AGE, SIZE AND SEASON

Özet

In this study, an ectoparasitic copepod, Caligus minimus Otto, 1821 infestation of European sea bass, Dicentrachus labrax (Linnaeus, 1758) caught from Beymelek Lagoon (Antalya, Turkey) was investigated. Fish sampling was carried out seasonally between October 2008 and July 2009. A total of 87 European sea bass was collected and examined. Their total body lengths and weights ranged from 23 to 44.3 cm and from 180 to 896 g for males, from 28 to 47.8 cm and from 179 to 957 g for females, respectively. The age distributions of fish were between 2 and 5 years. Out of 87 samples, 23 were infected with C. minimus. Although the prevalence and intensity of C. minimus were neither affected with host sex, nor size and age, its infestation showed a significant seasonal variation. The prevalence of C. minimus increased gradually from the autumn to the winter, reached the maximum in the spring and declined to the minimum in the summer.