A New Species of Hatschekiid Copepod (Crustacea: Hatschekiidae) Parasitic on the Porkfish Anisotremus virginicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Actinopterygii: Haemulidae), with Notes on Previously Known Species of Hatschekia Poche, 1902 Collected from Actinopterygians off Brazil

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

“…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).…”

Two new species of Acusicola Cressey, 1970 (Copepoda:Cyclopoida: Ergasilidae) parasitic on the gills of two estuarine actinopterygians off Brazil

“…Within the Neotropical Region, Brazil has the greatest species richness of parasitic crustaceans, most of which are ergasilid copepods (Luque et al, 2013 ). Despite the frequent occurrence and impact in aquaculture, the knowledge pertaining to the diversity and distribution of these parasites is still underestimated, since less than 10% of the local ichthyofauna has been studied for parasitic copepods (Luque et al, 2013 ; Couto & Paschoal, 2021 ; Paschoal et al, 2022 ; Narciso et al, 2022 ). Such gapped knowledge is concerning, since aquiculture has been expressively expanding during the last years (see FAO, 2021 ), which also highlights the need for further investigations on Ergasilidade, as well as on other groups of parasitic copepods from fish in Brazil.…”

“…Ergasilidae is the richest family of parasitic copepods found on fish from Brazil, on which 74 species from 18 genera have been reported (Narciso et al, 2019 ; Narciso & Da Silva, 2020 ; Narciso et al, 2020 ; Narciso et al 2021a , 2021b ; Oliveira et al, 2021 ). However, some authors affirm that such diversity is still underestimated, since only a small fraction of the Brazilian ichthyofauna has been studied for parasitic copepods (Luque et al, 2013 ; Taborda et al, 2016 ; Narciso & Da Silva, 2020 ; Paschoal et al, 2022 ).…”