Journal of Agricultural Science; Vol. 9, No. 11; 2017 ISSN 1916-9752 E-ISSN 1916-9760 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 30 Helminth Parasites of Red Lionfish, Pterois volitans from the Veracruz Coral Reef System, Mexico, Southern Gulf of Mexico Jesús Montoya-Mendoza 1 , Tomás Camarena-Luhrs 2 , María del Refugio Castañeda-Chávez 1 & Fabiola Lango-Reynoso 1 1 Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico de Boca del Río, Veracruz, México 2 Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano, Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, México Correspondence: Jesús Montoya-Mendoza, Laboratorio de Investigación Acuícola Aplicada, Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico de Boca del Río, Carretera Veracruz-Córdoba km 12, Boca del Río, 94290, Veracruz, México. Tel: 52-229-690-5010. E-mail: jesusmontoya@itboca.edu.mx Received: July 24, 2017 Accepted: September 27, 2017 Online Published: October 15, 2017 doi:10.5539/jas.v9n11p30 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/jas.v9n11p30 The research is financed by Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano CONANP-MEXICO and the Research Line: Procesos y Tecnologías para Sistemas Ambientales en los Ecosistemas Costeros Marinos, Maestría en Ciencias en Ingeniería Ambiental. Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Boca del Río. Abstract A helminthological survey was conducted on 78 red lionfish, Pterois volitans, collected in the Veracruz Reef System National Park (VRSNP). Register: trematodes (5 spp.), cestodes (1), and nematodes (2). Prevalence per species < 30% and mean intensity < 6.0. Three new host records are reported herein. The red lionfish is infected by species of endoparasites generalist and played a role as accidental host. Keywords: endoparasites, lionfish 1. Introduction Today, invasive species are one of the most challenging environmental problems, e.g. Cyprinus carpio or Oreochromis mossambicus. These species invade territories out of their natural distribution areas, disturbing and displacing native species through predation, competence and disease transmission (Lockwood et al., 2007). The red lionfish, P. volitans, came from the Indo-Pacific Ocean, and for more than 30 years has sprayed across the West Atlantic Coast, Caribbean (Morris et al., 2008; Morris, 2012), and Southern Gulf of Mexico (Santander-Monsalvo et al., 2012; Wakida-Kusunoki & Amador del Ángel, 2015). This organism has been studied from different perspectives, to take actions aimed to control and mitigate its impact on native biota and habitat in general. Studying one of these facets, helminthiasis and its infections, has shown that P. volitans participates in parasite life-cycles as accidental, paratenic or intermediate host (Simmons, 2014). This conclusion is supported by records of 30 helminth species from groups such as digeneans, monogeneans, cestodes, nematodes and acanthocephalans (Bullard et al., 2011; Simmons, 2014; Ramos-Ascherl et al., 2015; Sellers et al., 2015; Fogg et al., 2016). In general, helmiths have low prevalence and low abundance, due to the introduction time of the invasive species, the low susceptibility of the host to be infected by native parasites, and consumption of vectors with infective stages (Torchin et al., 2003; Torchin & Mitchell, 2004; Vignon & Sasal, 2010). Despite being an invasive species, lionfish have also acquired parasites from indigenous fish (Guegan & Kennedy, 1993; Gendron et al., 2012). This study aims to pinpoint parasitic helminthes of this species, recently sighted in the reefs of Veracruz, Mexico. 2. Methods Between May 2016 and March 2017, 78 lionfish (body length: 9.0-39.7 cm, weight: 15-1,063 g) were examined. The fish were captured with spear and SCUBA diving, in 15/22 reefs of the VRSNP, by personnel from the Marine Park of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas) (CONANP), framed within the Park activities against lionfish. These fish were transported into plastic containers with ice to the Applied Aquaculture Research Lab (Laboratorio de Investigación Acuícola