Philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) in carangid and serranid fishes off New Caledonia, including three new species

Abstract

A recent examination of newly obtained specimens of philometrid nematodes (Philometridae) parasitising carangid and serranid fishes off New Caledonia, South Pacific, revealed the presence of several nematodes of the genus Philometra Costa, 1845, including three new species: P. austropacifica n. sp. (males and females) from the ovary of Alepes vari (Carangidae), P. piscaria n. sp. (males) from the ovary of Epinephelus coioides (Serranidae), and P. selaris n. sp. (males) probably from the abdominal cavity (found in washings) of Selar crumenophthalmus (Carangidae). The new species are characterised mainly by the length and structure of the spicules and gubernaculum, body size, their location in the host and the type of host. Philometra austropacifica n. sp. is the first known nominal gonad-infecting species of Philometra parasitising a carangid fish. In addition, the gravid female of P. fasciati Moravec & Justine, 2008 from the ovary of Epinephelus fasciatus (Serranidae) is described for the first time. Carangid host fish were identified by both morphology and DNA barcoding.

Buckleyella ornata n. sp. (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the abdominal cavity of the talang queenfish Scomberoides commersonnianus (Perciformes: Carangidae) off the northern coast of Australia

“…Fishes of the Carangidae are frequently found to be infected with philometrid species of Buckleyella, Caranginema Moravec, Montoya-Mendoza et Salgado-Maldonado, 2008, Philometra Costa, 1845and Philometroides Yamaguti, 1935, which parasitize different organs of their hosts (Moravec, 2006;Moravec et al, 2008;Moravec & Justine, 2014). Buckeyella ornata n. sp.…”

Philometra dissimilis n. sp. from the ovary of Johnius belangerii (Sciaenidae) and other new records of philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) from fishes of the Bay of Bengal, India

“…At present, 67 gonad-infecting species of Philometra are known to parasitize marine fi shes (Moravec & de Buron, 2013;Quiazon & Yoshinaga, 2013;Moravec & Diggles, 2014aMoravec & Justine, 2014Moravec & Manoharan, 2014a, b;Moravec & Barton, 2015). However, as indicated by some recent studies of these nematodes from marine fi shes, they exhibit a high degree of host specifi city, when different morphologically well-distinguishable species of Philometra are recorded from different species of congeneric hosts in the same locality (Moravec & Manoharan, 2014a, b;Moravec et al, , 2016b.…”

“…Previously, such a high degree of host specifi city was found in gonad-infecting Philometra spp. in fi shes of the Serranidae (Moravec & Justine, 2014;Moravec & Manoharan, 2014a;Moravec et al, 2016b) and Lutjanidae (Moravec & Manoharan, 2014b;. Moravec & Diggles (2014b) reported P. johnii from the ovary of Johnius sp.…”

Occurrence and consequence of the parasitic nematode Philometra piscaria (Moravec & Justine, 2014) on Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton, 1822) from the southeast coast of India

“…High infections by these nematode parasites on both wild and cultured fishes have been recorded in many economically important species of Perciforms [2][3][4]. The large sized females of these nematodes are usually highly pathogenic, causing serious damages to the fish ovaries and affecting fish reproduction, which were recorded by Moravec and Bakenhaster [5], Moravec et al [6], and Moravec and Justine [7]. Parasitic species in the fish ovary is lethargically distributed to our knowledge mainly in the subtropical and tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific and so far it has been reported from the Indian Ocean.…”