Redescription and further report of two buccal attaching fish parasitic cymothoids, Ceratothoa carinata (Bianconi, 1869) and Cymothoa bychowskyi Avdeev, 1979 (Crustacea: Isopoda) with a new record from the southern India Ocean

ABSTRACT

The present study reports two poorly known buccal-attaching fish-parasitic cymothoids, Ceratothoa carinata (Bianconi, 1869) and Cymothoa bychowskyi Avdeev, 1979, from Indian waters. Ceratothoa carinata (Bianconi, 1869) infesting the shortfin scad, Decapterus macrosoma (Bleeker, 1851) collected from the Malabar Coast, India, is redescribed and illustrated based on the ovigerous female. It appears to be the first record of this species from Indian waters. Further, the poorly known Cymothoa bychowskyi Avdeev, 1979 infesting the red cornetfish Fistularia petimba Lacepède, 1803 collected from the south-west coast of India is redescribed and illustrated from female and male stages. An updated checklist of buccal-attaching fish-parasitic cymothoids is also provided.

KEYWORDS:

• fish parasite
• Cymothoidae
• Indian Ocean
• new record

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the D.S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship of University Grants Commission, New Delhi (No. F.4-2/2006 (BSR)/BL/16-17/0401; dated 28 August 2017) awarded to PTA.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

PTA and AKH worked on the topic, worked on illustrations and photographs and prepared the draft of the manuscript. PTA, AKH, and AB conceived and designed research, and critically reviewed the manuscript to improve its quality. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

The voucher specimens are deposited in the museum at the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala.

Consent for publication

All the authors consent to the publication of this manuscript.

Ethics approval consent to participate

The specimen (host and parasite) are not under the listed category of experimental animals that need ethics approval.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi (No. F.4-2/2006 (BSR)/BL/16-17/0401; dated 28 August 2017) through a Post-doctoral Fellowship to PTA.