The occurrence of two opecoeliid digeneans in Mullus barbatus and M. surmuletus from the Spanish south-eastern Mediterranean

The infection by Opecoeloides furcatus and Poracanthium furcatum (Opecoeliidae) was studied in 121 Mullus barbatus and 113 M. surmuletus collected from the Spanish south-eastern Mediterranean. The prevalence of infection was most frequent in M. surmuletus with values of 81.42% for O. furcatus and 38.05% for P. furcatum. In M. barbatus the prevalences of O. furcatus and P. furcatum were 54.54% and 14.88% respectively. Statistically significant differences were found between the infection of the two hosts with P. furcatum. No significant differences in worm burdens could be attributable to host size or to seasonal changes, although a lower infection of M. barbatus by O. furcatus occurred in the autumn. Furthermore, the electrophoretic mobility of the enzyme malic dehydrogenase (MDH) was also studied and both digeneans presented different patterns, corresponding in both cases to homozygotic genotypes.