A new species of Colobomatus Hesse, 1873 (Copepoda: Philichthyidae) parasitic in the interorbital canals of the Caitipa mojarra Diapterus rhombeus (Cuvier, 1829) (Actinopterygii: Gerreidae) from Sepetiba Bay, southeastern Brazil

Acusicola rochai n. sp. (Copepoda: Ergasilidae) parasitizing Anableps anableps (Anablepidae) from the Amazon Coast, with a key for Acusicola spp.

“…Additionally, considering the potential for parasitic crustaceans observed in this host species, it is reasonable to consider this fish as a potential host for other copepods, which demands further investigations to better understand its parasitic fauna and ecological interactions. Moreover, this work also underscores the high biodiversity potential of parasitic copepods in fish with little commercial importance, which are frequently neglected due to the historically uneven research, widely documented in Brazil (Luque and Poulin, 2007; Luque and Tavares, 2007; Luque et al ., 2013; Couto et al ., 2023, 2024a, 2024b).…”

“…Morphometric data and ratios of body to appendage segment lengths have proven to be very useful across many families of cyclopoid copepods, including Ergasilidae (Suárez-Morales et al ., 2008; Oliveira et al ., 2021; Uyeno and Nagasawa, 2021; Paschoal et al ., 2022, 2023). Despite such an importance, the way that the information is described varies considerably in Acusicola , with numerous species lacking complete information about their measurements or proportions (Cressey and Collette, 1970; Amado and Rocha, 1996; El-Rashidy and Boxshall, 1999; Araújo and Boxshall, 2001; Santacruz et al ., 2020).…”

“…This approach is common regarding other ergasilid genera (e.g. Ergasilus ), but not that frequent in Acusicola (Boxshall, 2016; Taborda et al ., 2016; Marques et al ., 2017; Couto et al ., 2024a). In this sense, despite the small size and occasional difficult visualization, it is fundamental for future studies not to neglect these features and provide more detailed descriptions, in order to enhance the knowledge on the morphological diversity of Acusicola spp., as well as of ergasilid copepods in general.…”

“…These copepods represent the commonest taxon infesting fish in Brazil, totalling 77 species from 17 genera reported in the country. Despite its notable diversity, recent studies have stated that the knowledge related to the richness and distribution of Ergasilidae may be inaccurate, due to a low number of fish species investigated for parasitic copepods in Brazil (Luque et al ., 2013; Couto et al ., 2024a).…”