Parasites of the black scabbard fish Aphanopus carbo Lowe, 1839 from Madeira

In ninety specimens of black-scabbard fish, Aphanopus carbo, examined from October 93 to October 94, five different helminth parasites and a myxosporean species were found infecting the digestive tract and gonads. Larval stages of Eucestoda, Trypanorhyncha, Tentacularia coryphaenae Bosc, 1802, Sphyriocephalus tergestinus Pintner, 1913 and Nybelinia lingualis (Cuvier, 1817) Poche, 1926 were found infecting the stomach mucosa, with prevalences reaching 13.3%, 5.6% and 3.3% respectively. Larval stages of the acanthocephalan Bolbosoma sp. Porta, 1908 (probably Bolbosoma vasculosum Rudolphi, 1819) attached to the external wall of stomach, intestine and gonads reached a prevalence of 45.6% and larval stages of the nematode Anisakis sp. Dujardin, 1845 was found infecting the viscera of all the fish examined, particularly the external walls of stomach and intestine. Spores and plasmodial stages of the myxosporean, Ceratomyxa tenuispora Kabata, 1960 were found in the gall bladder, with prevalence reaching 39.4%. All parasites, except the myxosporean, are first records for the black-scabbard fish.