A taxonomic review of the fish parasitic isopod family Cymothoidae Leach, 1818 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothooidea) of India

Abstract

The parasitic isopod family Cymothoidae Leach, 1818 of the India exclusive economic zone is reviewed. A total of 56 nominal species corresponding to 48 valid species belonging to sixteen genera are reviewed from 73 host species belonging to 35 families. Mothocya plagulophora (Haller, 1880), Nerocila depressa Milne Edwards, 1840, Nerocila loveni Bovallius, 1887, Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877), Norileca triangulata (Richardson, 1910) and Ryukyua globosa Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1994 are redescribed. Indusa pustulosa Pillai, 1954 is synonymised with Agarna malayi Tiwari, 1952; Cymothoa krishnai Jayadev Babu & Sanjeeva Raj, 1984 is synonymised with Cymothoa eremita (Brünnich, 1783) and Nerocila priacanthusi Kumari, Rao & Shyamasundari, 1987 is synonymised with Nerocila arres Bowman & Tareen, 1983. Ourozeuktes bopyroides (Lesueur, 1814) is revised and excluded from the Indian fauna. The Indian cymothoid species Agarna bengalensis Kumari, Rao & Shaymasundari, 1990, Cymothoa asymmetrica Pillai, 1954 and Nerocila hemirhamphusi Shyamasundari, Rao & Kumari, 1990 are regarded here as species inquirenda. A key to the Indian genera of the family Cymothoidae and keys to the Indian species of the genera Cymothoa, Joryma, Mothocya, and Nerocila are presented. A checklist of the valid Cymothoidae species until now reported from Indian marine fishes are compiled. Host preferences, morphological variability and distribution are discussed.

First Record of Lobothorax Typus from Odisha Coast, India, with Molecular Characterisation and Observation of its Biphasic Moulting

“…The isopods of the family Cymothoidae were gently removed from their respective attachment sites of the host sh species and kept in 70% alcohol. The isopod parasites were identi ed after following the features as described by Yu and Bruce (2006) and Ravichandran et al (2019). All the parasites and hosts are deposited and registered in repository of the Estuarine Biological Research Centre (EBRC), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Gopalpur-on-Sea, Odisha, India.…”

“…The study of the representatives of the family Cymothoidae are important as they are obligate ectoparasites to many fresh, brackish and marine sh species. Most of these parasites are show a high scale of the site and host-speci c (Ravichandran et al 2019). These parasites are known to cause a wide range of damaging effects to many host sh species which includes tissues damage, varieties of wounds, growth inhibition, behavioural changes, impacting the reproductive potential, even cause death to the small shes; thereby impacting the sheries resources (Rameshkumar et al2013; Kumar et al .2015;Aneesh et al 2018Aneesh et al , 2019Seth et al 2020 a, b).…”

“…Indian water is known to harbour 48 valid species belonging to 16 genera under the family Cymothoidae. Most of the studies on species of the family Cymothoidae in Indian water are con ned to Southern Indian coast (Ravichandran et al 2019). The information on the isopods of the family Cymothoidae from the coastal water of Odisha, India is scanty and requires a comprehensive longterm study to come up with an updated data (Seth et al 2020 a, b).…”

“…The species L. typus is known to occur from the South-eastern Asia region: Java, Jakarta, Indonesia (as Batavia Bleeker 1857, Schiöedte and Meinert 1883), East Malaysia (Kumar et al 2015), and South China Sea (Yu & Bruce 2006). In India, it is documented from the South-eastern coast (Rameshkumar et al 2013;Ravichandran et al 2019). The species L. aurita and L. laevis are known to occur from the Philippines (Schiöedte and Meinert 1883; Richardson, 1910).…”

“…The species L. typus is known to cause infection in the buccal region of the host sh species i.e. Trichiurus lepturus (Ravichandran et al 2019) and Lepturacanthus savala (Yu and Bruce 2006). The details taxonomic features of L. typus was given by Yu and Bruce (2006).…”