Helminths from a stranded manatee in the Dominican Republic

Endangered West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) are known to be parasi tized by a number of helminths and ectoparasites. Records of parasitic asso ciations exist for Florida, Mexico, Guyana, Brazil, Cuba and recently for P uerto Rico. Parasites of manatees in other Caribbean areas have not been do cumented, particularly from Hispaniola. We report on the occurrence of a sp ecies of nematode and :of two trematodes from a 238-cm male manatee from Po rtillo (19 degrees 20'N, 69 degrees 35'W), Las Terrenas, in the Dominican R epublic. Three species of helminths were collected, including the opisthotr ematid Cochleotrema cochleotrema, the ascarid Heterocheilus tunicatus, and the paramphistomid trematode Chiorchis fabaceus. The documentation of these helminths constitutes the first record of these parasites and host relatio nships for Hispaniola and the second for the northeastern Caribbean. (C) 19 99 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.