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Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela

Two species of horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae and Trachurus capensis) reside in the northern Benguela ecosystem. Both are important economic commodities for the Angolan and Namibian fisheries and therefore need to be managed appropriately. Although the two species of horse mackerel share similar m...

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Main Author: Bowker, Jenna
Other Authors: Reed, Cecile C
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Bowker, Jenna
author2 Reed, Cecile C
author_browse Bowker, Jenna
Reed, Cecile C
author_facet Reed, Cecile C
Bowker, Jenna
author_sort Bowker, Jenna
collection Thesis
description Two species of horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae and Trachurus capensis) reside in the northern Benguela ecosystem. Both are important economic commodities for the Angolan and Namibian fisheries and therefore need to be managed appropriately. Although the two species of horse mackerel share similar morphological characteristics and co-occur in Namibian waters in the northern Benguela, few studies have compared their parasite assemblages. To date there are no studies regarding the parasite profile of T. trecae. This study is the first to identify and document the parasite assemblage of T. trecae from the northern Benguela and forms the only parasite profile for this horse mackerel species. This study also assesses the effects of fish size and fish sex on the parasite assemblage of T. trecae, and compares the parasite assemblage of this species with that of T. capensis from the northern Benguela. Results indicate that the largest significant difference in parasite assemblage is between the two horse mackerel species (by convention p<0.01), but that significant differences are also found between small and large T. trecae and between immature, male and female T. trecae. The coccidian Goussia cruciata was found to have the strongest discriminatory power in all comparisons, and therefore serves as a potential indicator parasite or biotag for discriminating between different stocks of T. trecae and between T. trecae and T. capensis in the northern Benguela. Due to the lack of literature regarding the life history of T. trecae it is difficult to assess why there are sex effects on parasites infecting this species, as well as whether the interspecific difference in parasite assemblage is due to environmental conditions or species-specific relationships. Further investigations regarding the life history of T. trecae would assist interpretation of the results obtained here. This study provides a comprehensive knowledge of the parasite assemblages infecting T. trecae and thus lends to possible future studies regarding T. trecae stock structure. It also provides a starting point for conducting studies of the parasite assemblages of other fish in the northern Benguela.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/7629
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:34.243Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Biological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Biological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/7629 Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela Bowker, Jenna Reed, Cecile C Van der Lingen, Carl D Two species of horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae and Trachurus capensis) reside in the northern Benguela ecosystem. Both are important economic commodities for the Angolan and Namibian fisheries and therefore need to be managed appropriately. Although the two species of horse mackerel share similar morphological characteristics and co-occur in Namibian waters in the northern Benguela, few studies have compared their parasite assemblages. To date there are no studies regarding the parasite profile of T. trecae. This study is the first to identify and document the parasite assemblage of T. trecae from the northern Benguela and forms the only parasite profile for this horse mackerel species. This study also assesses the effects of fish size and fish sex on the parasite assemblage of T. trecae, and compares the parasite assemblage of this species with that of T. capensis from the northern Benguela. Results indicate that the largest significant difference in parasite assemblage is between the two horse mackerel species (by convention p<0.01), but that significant differences are also found between small and large T. trecae and between immature, male and female T. trecae. The coccidian Goussia cruciata was found to have the strongest discriminatory power in all comparisons, and therefore serves as a potential indicator parasite or biotag for discriminating between different stocks of T. trecae and between T. trecae and T. capensis in the northern Benguela. Due to the lack of literature regarding the life history of T. trecae it is difficult to assess why there are sex effects on parasites infecting this species, as well as whether the interspecific difference in parasite assemblage is due to environmental conditions or species-specific relationships. Further investigations regarding the life history of T. trecae would assist interpretation of the results obtained here. This study provides a comprehensive knowledge of the parasite assemblages infecting T. trecae and thus lends to possible future studies regarding T. trecae stock structure. It also provides a starting point for conducting studies of the parasite assemblages of other fish in the northern Benguela. 2014-09-22T12:00:14Z 2014-09-22T12:00:14Z 2013 Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7629 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Bowker, Jenna
Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela
thesis_degree_str Bachelor's / Honours
title Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela
title_full Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela
title_fullStr Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela
title_full_unstemmed Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela
title_short Parasites of Kunene horse mackerel Trachurus trecae (Smith-Vaniz, 1986) with a comparison of parasites of Cape horse mackerel T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) in the northern Benguela
title_sort parasites of kunene horse mackerel trachurus trecae smith vaniz 1986 with a comparison of parasites of cape horse mackerel t capensis castelnau 1861 in the northern benguela
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7629
work_keys_str_mv AT bowkerjenna parasitesofkunenehorsemackereltrachurustrecaesmithvaniz1986withacomparisonofparasitesofcapehorsemackereltcapensiscastelnau1861inthenorthernbenguela

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