effluent impact on the parasitic ecology of the mole sand crab in the central coast of Peru. Emerita analoga

A total of 5287 specimens of were collected from 13 beaches off Lima, Peru between July 2001 E. analoga

and June 2016. The influence of the sanitary quality established by the quantity of thermotolerant

coliforms in relation to parasitic indexes, the length of the cephalothorax and sex of

analoga, according to date and place of collection, and distance from the tide line. The parasites found

were: (Perry, 1942) Van Cleave, 1947 (Acanthocephala) and Profilicollis altmani Proleptus carvajali

(Fernandez & Villalba, 1985) (Nematoda). The prevalence of and was 57.8% and P. altmani P. carvajali

45.3%, reaching an average abundance of 4.27 and 1.10, respectively. The shortest length of the

cephalothorax of was found on the beach "Conchán" characterized as "Unhealthy", according E. analoga

carvajali (p = 0.02, p = 0.01). "Pucusana", qualified as "Healthy", presented the highest prevalence and

average abundance of . "San Pedro" qualified as "Healthy" presented the highest prevalence and P. altmani

average abundance of . There is a relationship between the season of the year and the parasite P. carvajali

mean abundance (p = 0.006), but not in relation to prevalence (p = 0.31). The degree of environmental

disturbance derived from the discharge of wastewater, urban and industrial, leads to the proposal of the use

of the helminths present in as indicators of sanitary quality.E. analoga

El poderío de contaminación de los efluentes domésticos radica en la cantidad de materia orgánica y

microorganismos que contienen. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar las implicancias de la

calidad sanitaria de las playas en la ecología parasitaria del “Muy Muy” en la costa Emerita analoga

y (Fernandez & Villalba, 1985) (Nematoda). La prevalencia de y Proleptus carvajali P. altmani P.

carvajali fue de 57,8 % y 45,3 %, alcanzando una abundancia media de 4,27 y 1,10, respectivamente. La

menor longitud del cefalotórax de se encontró en la playa “Conchán” calificada como “No E. analoga

Saludable”, según el nivel de coliformes termotolerantes, en septiembre del 2013. No se observó

diferencias en la prevalencia (p=0,72) y abundancia media (p=0,37) de P. altmani con respecto a la

calidad sanitaria. La prevalencia (p=0,02) y abundancia media (p=0,03) de P. carvajali fue

significativamente distinta en relación a la calidad sanitaria. Las 9 fechas de colecta exhibieron

uniformidad en la prevalencia y abundancia media de P. altmani (p=0,11; p=0,16) y P. carvajali (p=0,58;

p=0,18). Las 13 playas demostraron una discontinuidad significativa en torno a la prevalencia y

abundancia media de P. altmani (p=0,01; p=0,05) y P. carvajali (p=0,02; p=0,01). “Pucusana”, calificada

The concept of ecosystem health has played a role

in environmental management, the public domain

and even in our current scientific and legislative

lexicon (Marcogliese, 2005), the justification for

incorporating the concept lies in the search for the

stability of ecological systems (Merrill et al.,

The Coastal-Marine Zone (ZCM), is the

geomorphological space inside and outside the

growing exponentially, exceeding the limits of the

self-purifying power of the sea (Savichtcheva &

River, the main source of water for the capital of

Faced with this situation, different protocols for the

detection and monitoring of marine pollution have

been proposed (Williams & Mackenzie, 2003;

Borja et al., 2008; Crain et al., 2008), from the use

of faecal contamination indicator organisms

(Sumampouw & Riskani, 2014); Benthic

invertebrates as accumulators of toxic substances

(Birk et al., 2012); tools for assessing nested

The use of parasites as potential indicators of

marine pollution has been analyzed in different

studies (Möller, 1987; Khan & Thulin, 1991;

Mackenzie et al., 1995; Lafferty, 1997; Mackenzie,

1999; Lewis et al., 2003; Pietrock & Marcogliese,

2003; Williams & Mackenzie, 2003; Marcogliese,

2005; Monserrat et al., 2007; Blanar et al., 2009;

Gilbert & Avenant-Oldewage, 2017).

Parasites are omnipresent (Marcogliese, 2005),

parasitism being the most common interspecific

conditions (Mackenzie, 1999), finally, the eggs of

certain parasites may be in contact with the marine

sediment, expressing the health of the ecosystem

(Williams & Mackenzie, 2003).

Emerita analoga (Stimpson, 1857) (Anomura:

Hippidae) is a crustacean hermaphrodite

protandrid (Subramonian & Gunamalai, 2003).

This marine organism lives in a sedentary state as

an adult on sandy beaches in the middle and upper

(12°31´S; 76°83´W), “Santa María del Mar”

(12°40´S; 76°77´W) and “Pucusana” (12°48´S;

other by 100 m, each transect started on the tide line

(lower level of the supralittoral) and finished

analoga. This test was also used to visualize

differences in the parasitic indexes between the

2013. , September 2014 and June 2016) and the

thirteen collection beaches (Hogue & Swig, 2007;

Beltrán-Saavedra, 2015; Faulkes, 2017).

converting the variable DIST (distance from the

tide line) from factor to numerical vector.

All the statistical tests were evaluated with a level

of significance (α) of 0.05. The R version 3.5.1

software was used with the "ggplot2" package for

the graphics (Wickham, 2016).

Ethical aspects

replacement, reduction, and refinement, and

resolution 2558-2018-CU-UNFV that includes the

code of ethics for research at the National

University Federico Villarreal (UNFV). For the

management of the parasitic fauna, the guidelines

of the protection and animal welfare law of Peru

Table 1. Parasite load (mean parasitic abundance and prevalence) and length of the cephalothorax of E. analoga

according to the sanitary quality of the 13 beaches of the central coast of Peru between July 2001 to June 2016.

Table 2. Parasite load (mean parasitic abundance and prevalence) and length of the cephalothorax of E. analoga

according to the seasonal variation between July 2001 to June 2016, in the central coast of Peru.

larval form and P. carvajali (Nematoda:

Physalopteridae) in its larval form. The MA of P.

altmani and P. carvajali was 4.27 and 1.10,

reaching a PRE of 57.8% and 45.3%, respectively,

for both sexes of E. analoga.

There was no capture bias of E. analoga expressed

Figure 1. Scatter plot between mean parasitic abundance and prevalence of P. altmani and P. carvajali in relation to the length of

the cephalothorax according to the sex of E. analoga collected in 13 beaches of the central coast of Peru, between July 2001 to

June 2016.

Figura 2. Box plot between total mean parasitic abundance and total prevalence in relation to the sanitary quality of the beaches

according to the sex of E. analoga collected in 13 beaches of the central coast of Peru, between July 2001 to June 2016.

The sanitary quality of the beaches had the highest

MA (6.48) and PRE (74.08%) of P. altmani on the

beaches classified as "Healthy", the nematode P.

carvajali reached the highest MA (1.29) and PRE

(62.33%) on the beaches classified as "Regularly

Healthy" (Table 1). However, according to the non-

parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, no differences

the probable parasitic spatial segregation was

evidenced through the Kruskal-Wallis test,

indicating a significant inequality in the MA of P.

altmani (H = 16.11, df = 8, p = 0.04) and PRE of P.

carvajali (H = 18.57, df = 8, p = 0.01) compared to

sample sizes of E. analoga, collected between July

2001 and June 2016 along the central coast of Peru,

did not show any capture bias expressed in the AM

or PRE, as a result of the effort of sampling.

The general average of the length of the

cephalothorax of E. analoga was 1.28 cm, the

males had 1.42 ± 0.5 cm and the females 1.8 ± 0.71

cm, tending towards a marked sexual dimorphism

in the difference of sizes confirming what was

indicated by Lépez et al. (2001), Iannacone et al.