First record on the occurrence of Ryukyua circularis (Pillai, 1954), a parasitic cymothoid (Crustacean: Isopoda) infesting the clupeid fish Amblygaster sirm (Walbaum) from Andaman Islands, India

Abstract

In the present study, occurrence of branchial parasitic cymothoid, from the marine finfish, is reported for the first time from Andaman Islands. Morphological characterization was carried out which confirmed the parasite as Molecular characterization using 28S rDNA revealed 443 bp sequence which has been submitted to NCBI GenBank under the accession no. KX090447. Ten female and one male parasite () were collected from the branchial cavity of the individual host fishes (). The displacement of gill filament and cavity formation in the gill chamber of the host fish was observed. The report of this species from Andaman Islands gives further information on its geographic range extension, since they are currently known from West coast of India and Thailand.

Livoneca redmanii Leach, 1818 (Cymothoidae) a parasitic isopod infesting the gills of the European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax (Linnaeus, 1758): morphological and molecular characterization study

“…L. redmanii was lodged in the gill chamber or outside the operculum, in the mouth area, and at the ventrum of the head of the cultured meagre A. regius according to A Fadel, M Bessat and M Abdel-Aziz [20] and the gills eventually turned a pale tint, with extensive ulceration at the attachment site. In addition, maxilliped action during feeding has been linked to decreased respiratory competence [57][58][59][60]. Thus, pressure atrophy, feeding activity, and method of L. redmanii attachment to gills may all play a role in the clinical signs and histopathological alterations recorded in the infested fish [61,62].…”

Manipulative Strategies of Aquatic Arthropods for Fish Parasitism: A Review

“…Interestingly, Cymothoids are known by a protandrous hermaphrodite, as the firstly reaching male parasitizes a fish changes his sex into a female, and secrets pheromone or neurohormone to prevent any following male from further hermaphroditic action [8]. Using their pereopods and mouth parts, flesh-burrowing Cymothoids can anchor the skin of hosting fish forming small holes as their habitat that are opened to the outside; therefore, vulnerable to secondary infections of several microbial diseases [16,21] In addition, gill parasitism reveals the occurrence of cavities within the fish gill chambers and the displacement of gill filaments because of pressure from the lodged parasite [39][40][41].…”

New Host Record of Lutjanus gibbus for Parasitic Nerocila sp. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cymothoidae) from South Andaman, Andaman Islands, India

“…The work on parasitic isopod in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is very scanty. Only few reports are available on the distribution of parasitic isopods on marine fishes from Andaman Islands [15,16,17]. According to literature in these Andaman Islands, under the family Cymothoidae, only 6 genera are reported viz, Pleopodius, Renocila, Norileca, Cymothoa, Joryma, and Ryukyua.…”