Abstract

The examination of the gills of 960 fishes belonging to four species: Diplodus annularis, Pagellus erythrinus, Lithognatus mormyrus and Mullus barbatuscollected from the Gulf of Annaba, enabled us to identify 13 species of parasitic copepods: Caligus ligusticus, Caligus diaphanus, Clavellotis sp, Clavellotis sargi, Clavellotis pagri, Clavellotis strumosa, Lernaeolophus sultanus,Hatschekia pagellibogneravei, Hatschekia sp, Hatschekia mulli, Sparidicola lithognathi, Neobrachiella exigua and Alella macrotrachelus. The distribution of copepods identified, varies from one host species to another and one season to another. P. erythrinus and L. mormyrus present the important number of copepods species. However, the winter presents the highest parasitic diversity (13). Furthermore, the majority of oixenous species are counted. The rates of most values are recorded in summer (33%) and spring (25%). It is also, D. annulariswhich shelters more of the 2/3 population of copepods collected. The copepod H. pagellibogneravei is the most abundant. The evaluation of parasitic indices shows that, it is during the summer and spring that the maximum values are recorded.

Key words: Copepod gills, Gulf of Annaba, teleost fish, season.