Abstract

VALERO, Nereida et al. Larvivorous Capacity of the Gold Fish (Carassius auratus auratus) and the Wild Guppy (Poecilia reticulata) on Larvaes of Aedes aegypti in Laboratory Conditions. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2006, vol.16, n.4, pp.315-324. ISSN 0798-2259.

The biological control of vectors of medical importance is presented as an alternative to the use of plaguicides. The utilization of larvivorous fishes is promoted as a new strategy for the control of vectors. The proposal of this study is to evaluate the potential of two species of fishes for the biological control of mosquitoes Aedes aegypti (main vector of Dengue) under laboratory conditions. A growing number of larvaes in stages I, II and III of A. aegypti (n: 25, 50 and 100) was placed in aquariums with goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) and wild guppys (Poecilia reticulata). The ratio body weight/eliminated larvaes/hour was quantified in ten assays. The species Poecilia reticulata had a higher (P < 0.001) larvivorous capacity than the species C. auratus auratus, since when 25, 50 and 100 larvaes were administrated the Poecilia reticulata were able to reach an average of larval elimination of 3.15 ± 0.12; 5.50 ± 0.31 and 10.95 ± 0.25, while the C. auratus auratus reached a maximum of 1.21 ± 0.03; 2.45 ± 0.02 and 4.73 ± 0.06. The results are indicative that under these conditions, both species of fish possess high capacity of elimination of larvaes of A. aegypti; however, considering their larvivorous capacity, readiness, cost, reproductive characteristics and resistance to the climatic conditions, the species Poecilia reticulata offers important advantages over C. auratus auratus when both species are evaluated integrally as candidates for the biological control.

Keywords : Carassius auratus auratus (gold fish); Poecilia reticulata (guppy); biological control of mosquitoes; Aedes aegypti; fish larvivorous.