Checklist of Syngnathidae Parasites in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov

For the first time data on parasite diversity of Syngnathidae fishes inhabiting the Black and the Sea of Azov, the rivers flowing into these seas and their estuaries accumulated in more than 30 articles and books during almost one century of investigations were summarized. A high level of parasitic organisms’ richness is registered to date: 64 species from 45 genera, 35 families, 14 classes, 10 phyla have been recorded here from 8 species of Syngnathidae fish hosts: Syngnathus abaster Risso, 1827, S. acus L., 1758, S. schmidti Popov, 1927, S. tenuirostis Rathke, 1837, S. typhle L., 1758, S. variegatus Pallas, 1814, Nerophis ophidion (L., 1758), Hippocampus hippocampus (L., 1758). Host-parasite and parasite-host lists are provided, the results for Kinetoplastida, Sporozoa, Microsporidia, Myxozoa, Ciliophora, Platyhelminthes (Monogenea, Trematoda, Cestoda), Nematoda, Acanthocephala, Annelida, and parasitic Arthropoda are presented. Platyhelminthes and Ciliophora (19 and 18 species, respectively) turned out to be the most species-rich taxa of Syngnathidae parasites, while Trematoda was the richest (15 species) class among flatworms. The largest number of parasite species is known from three fish hosts: S. abaster parasite fauna comprises 54 species of 10 phyla (84% of total parasite fauna of this fish family in the region), S. typhle – 27 parasite species belonging to 6 phyla (38%) and relatively pure parasites fauna in H. guttulatus, 14 species of 6 phyla (22%).