Sea Turtle Parasites

Abstract

Charaxicephalus robustus, a parasite from the stomach of Chelonia mydas, Parque Nacional Tortuguero, Caribbean coast of Costa Rica (Photo: M. Santoro) 508 M. Santoro, S. Mattiucci Abstract In the present review we report a total of 34 species of parasites from two sea turtle species (Chelonia mydas and Lepidochelys olivacea) from Costa Rican waters. Most of the parasites were digenetic trematodes except for one annelid, the leech Ozobranchus branchiatus. Thirty-one species have been identified from the Caribbean coast and only four from the Pacific coast. O. branchiatus occurs on both sea turtle species examined from the two coastal areas. Eleven digeneans represent new geographical records for the Atlantic Ocean. Three species are reported for the first time for the Caribbean Sea. The most represented family of parasites found was Pronocephalidae with 15 species (including a new species, Pleurogonius tortugueroi). On the Caribbean coast, Tortuguero National Park was the only locality from where sea turtles (C. mydas) were examined, while three specimens of L. olivacea stranded along the Pacific coast were studied. Due to the scarcity of sea turtle parasite studies (only two of the six species of sea turtles that occur along the Costa Rican coasts have been examined so far), it is reasonable to suppose that parasite species diversity in sea turtles of Costa Rica is considerably higher than reported to date.