Nerocila species (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cymothoidae) from Indian marine fishes

Abstract

Eleven Nerocila species are recorded from 22 marine fishes belonging to 15 families. Three, Nerocila arres, Nerocila depressa, and Nerocila loveni, are new for the Indian fauna. N. arres and Nerocila sigani, previously synonymized, are redescribed and their individuality is restored. Nerocila exocoeti, until now inadequately identified, is described and distinctly characterized. A neotype is designated. New hosts were identified for N. depressa, N. loveni, Nerocila phaiopleura, Nerocila serra, and Nerocila sundaica. Host–parasite relationships were considered. The parasitologic indexes were calculated. The site of attachment of the parasites on their hosts was also observed. A checklist of the nominal Nerocila species until now reported from Indian marine fishes was compiled.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00436-012-3263-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Two Nerocila species parasitizing Pomadasys maculatus from Nagapattinam, Southeast coast of India

“…In India, this parasitic isopod was previously reported by Chidambaram and Menon (1945) in the West coast from 6 different fish species, i.e., Otholites ruber, Therapon jarbua, Engraulis mystax, Serranus gilberti, Pellona indica and Sardinella fimbriata. It was later reported by Trilles et al (2013) from six host species belonging to five families and six genera, including C. malabaricus, Ilisha melastoma, Opisthopterus tardoore, O. ruber, Selaroides leptolepis and Terapon puta. The geographical range of this widely distributed species includes the South China and Java Seas in the Pacific Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf in the Northern Indian Ocean (Bowman 1978).…”

“…(Bruce and Harrison-Nelson 1988), Eubleekeria splendens from the Nagapattinam coast (Rameshkumar et al 2013b;Trilles et al 2013), Carangoides malabaricus and Escualosa thoracata from the Malabar coast (Aneesh et al 2013). Now, the distribution of this parasitic isopod includes the Java coasts (Bovallius 1887), Batavia and the Siam gulf (Nierstrasz 1915(Nierstrasz , 1931Trilles 1979Trilles , 1994, Singapore, Thailand, Borneo and Sarawak (Bruce and Harrison-Nelson 1988), the Malabar coast (Aneesh et al 2013), the Nagapattinam coast (Rameshkumar et al 2013b;Trilles et al 2013; Present study) and Parangipettai, Southeast coast of India (Rameshkumar et al 2014b).…”

“…Identifications and morphometric characteristics follow Bovallius (1887), Bleeker (1857), Bruce and HarrisonNelson (1988) and Trilles et al (2013). The sampling …”

Parasitic isopods from marine fishes off Nagapattinam coast, India

“…The intensity ranged from 1 to 1.7 parasites during the different months from December 2008 to November 2011. From April 2009 to December 2011, Trilles et al (2013) reported that the overall prevalence reached 8.74 %, a maximum prevalence being observed in N. depressa parasitizing Sardinella gibbosa (P = 12.5 %) and a minimum prevalence in N. sundaica parasitizing Ilisha melastoma (P = 3.84 %). The mean intensity ranged from 1 to 1.4.…”

“…Nerocila is a large genus of the family Cymothoidae including at least 65 species living attached on the skin or on the fins of fishes, caudal or dorsal fin and the base of the dorsal or pectoral fin (Trilles 1969;Morton 1974). Until now few studies were performed on Nerocila species collected from Indian marine fishes (Rameshkumar et al , 2013aTrilles et al 2013). The body surface, the postero-ventral side of the head and the lateral line of the host fish were the major attachment site for the Nerocila species collected by Aneesh et al (2013).…”