Digenea community structure of the Salema, (Linnaeus, 1758) (Teleostei, Sparidae), from the Central coast of Algeria.

The main goal of the current work was to describe and analyse the Digenean community structure in A total of 114 specimens of were collected from the Central Coast of Algeria at six localities. The fish were immediately transported to the laboratory to be examined for digeneans. From 107 of the 114 examined, a total of 8,722 specimens of seven species belonging to three families were recovered. Among them, and were the most prevalent and abundant species. Moreover, was found for the first time in from the coast of Algeria, and and represent new parasites to the Algerian digenean fauna that infect teleost fish. The component community of these Digeneans is characterised by as its dominant species representing 62% of the total number of collected Digeneans, as well by a Shannon diversity index (H') and Dominance Simpson index (D) of 1.03 and 2.23, respectively. According to Spearman's correlation test, and were negatively correlated to the host biological factors. On the other hand, showed a positive correlation between its mean abundance and the total length of the fish. With these findings, we provided the component structure of the Digenean fauna of and highlighted their diversity, contributing to the biodiversity of the parasitic Platyhelminthes in Algeria.