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Parasite Component Community Of Smalltooth Sawfish Off Florida: Diversity, Conservation Concerns, And Research Applications, Micah D. Bakenhaster, Stephen A. Bullard, Stephen S. Curran, Delane C. Kritsky, Erin H. Leone, Lauren K. Partridge, Carlos F. Ruiz, Rachel M. Scharer, Gregg R. Poulakis

Faculty Publications

Compared with that of other charismatic elasmobranchs, the component community of metazoan parasites infecting endangered smalltooth sawfish Pristis pectinata is exceedingly poorly characterized: adults of Dermophthirioides pristidis and Neoheterocotyle inpristi (ectoparasitic flatworms of skin and gill, respectively) were the only confirmed parasites prior to the description, based on specimens reported herein, of Mycteronastes caalusi. Our opportune and directed parasitological examinations of 290 smalltooth sawfish (277 live inspections; 13 necropsies; 671 to 2640 mm stretch total length) in south Florida coastal waters revealed at least 8 species of Platyhelminthes, 9 of Arthropoda, 4 of Annelida, and 1 of Nematoda. This …