Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review

Many new marine parasite species are added every year. Still, in some places, mainly tropical regions, marine parasites have been little studied. An exhaustive review of the indexed publications where species of parasites are reported in the marine environments of Costa Rica was carried out. The his...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alberto Solano-Barquero, Alicia Rojas, Jorge Cortés
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-04-01
Series:Parasitologia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6772/3/2/14
_version_ 1797593123958816768
author Alberto Solano-Barquero
Alicia Rojas
Jorge Cortés
author_facet Alberto Solano-Barquero
Alicia Rojas
Jorge Cortés
author_sort Alberto Solano-Barquero
collection DOAJ
description Many new marine parasite species are added every year. Still, in some places, mainly tropical regions, marine parasites have been little studied. An exhaustive review of the indexed publications where species of parasites are reported in the marine environments of Costa Rica was carried out. The history of research on marine parasites in this region is also reviewed. A total of 147 species of marine parasites have been reported in Costa Rica as parasites of 61 different species of hosts. Most of these parasites correspond to trematodes and cestodes, found mainly in the digestive tract of their vertebrate hosts. In Costa Rica, marine parasites have been studied mainly in sea turtles, elasmobranchs, fish, and dolphins. Most marine parasites have been reported based on morphological identifications of adult stages, and most of the work done so far consists of taxonomic identifications (species reports), with little contribution to the pathology and other aspects of the parasites–hosts interactions. The technical difficulties for research in marine parasitology, the lack of sampling in certain groups of hosts, and the lack of a consolidated research group in marine wildlife parasitology in Costa Rica are factors that have prevented a greater and faster advance in the knowledge of the biodiversity of marine parasites in this country.
first_indexed 2024-03-11T02:04:25Z
format Article
id doaj.art-921c8a56f494463393ec8c52db283750
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2673-6772
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T02:04:25Z
publishDate 2023-04-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Parasitologia
spelling doaj.art-921c8a56f494463393ec8c52db2837502023-11-18T11:59:02ZengMDPI AGParasitologia2673-67722023-04-013211614110.3390/parasitologia3020014Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A ReviewAlberto Solano-Barquero0Alicia Rojas1Jorge Cortés2Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose 11501, Costa RicaCentro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose 11501, Costa RicaCentro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose 11501, Costa RicaMany new marine parasite species are added every year. Still, in some places, mainly tropical regions, marine parasites have been little studied. An exhaustive review of the indexed publications where species of parasites are reported in the marine environments of Costa Rica was carried out. The history of research on marine parasites in this region is also reviewed. A total of 147 species of marine parasites have been reported in Costa Rica as parasites of 61 different species of hosts. Most of these parasites correspond to trematodes and cestodes, found mainly in the digestive tract of their vertebrate hosts. In Costa Rica, marine parasites have been studied mainly in sea turtles, elasmobranchs, fish, and dolphins. Most marine parasites have been reported based on morphological identifications of adult stages, and most of the work done so far consists of taxonomic identifications (species reports), with little contribution to the pathology and other aspects of the parasites–hosts interactions. The technical difficulties for research in marine parasitology, the lack of sampling in certain groups of hosts, and the lack of a consolidated research group in marine wildlife parasitology in Costa Rica are factors that have prevented a greater and faster advance in the knowledge of the biodiversity of marine parasites in this country.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6772/3/2/14platyhelminthestrematodescestodesmonogeneansacanthocephalansnematodes
spellingShingle Alberto Solano-Barquero
Alicia Rojas
Jorge Cortés
Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review
Parasitologia
platyhelminthes
trematodes
cestodes
monogeneans
acanthocephalans
nematodes
title Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review
title_full Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review
title_fullStr Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review
title_full_unstemmed Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review
title_short Metazoan Marine Parasites of Costa Rica: A Review
title_sort metazoan marine parasites of costa rica a review
topic platyhelminthes
trematodes
cestodes
monogeneans
acanthocephalans
nematodes
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6772/3/2/14
work_keys_str_mv AT albertosolanobarquero metazoanmarineparasitesofcostaricaareview
AT aliciarojas metazoanmarineparasitesofcostaricaareview
AT jorgecortes metazoanmarineparasitesofcostaricaareview