Oarfish (
Regalecus russelii
Cuvier) are mesopelagic fish with little
known about their life history. Oarfish live in deep water, making it difficult for
researchers to collect specimens; thus, records of their parasitic helminths are limited.
Two plerocercoids were found for the first time in an oarfish stranded on the coast of
Akita Prefecture, Japan. These plerocercoids were identified as
Clistobothrium
sp. RR-1 using morphological and molecular analyses. It
was revealed that oarfish represent one of the intermediate hosts of the genus
Clistobothrium
, and large sharks are the definitive hosts for these
parasites.
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