New records of sea lice (Copepoda: Caligidae) from marine fishes in Jaramijó, an area with potential for sea-cage aquaculture in Ecuador

Abstract

Farming of finfish in sea cages is gaining popularity worldwide. These systems are a suitable environment for the emergence, establishment and transmission of parasites or pathogens, such as sea lice (Copepoda: Caligidae), known to cause serious diseases and economic losses in finfish aquaculture worldwide. In coastal waters of Jaramijó, Ecuador, there are plans to culture spotted rose snapper (Lutjanus guttatus) and longfin yellowtail (Seriola rivoliana); however, the information about the occurrence of sea lice on fish from this country is scarce. To address this problem, a parasitological survey of economically important fish caught by artisanal fishermen was conducted between June 2013 and May 2014. A total of 608 fish belonging to 66 species were examined. Sea lice were found on 23 fish species. The diversity of these parasites consisted of 22 species of Caligus and 5 species of Lepeophtheirus. Most sea lice species (66%) occurred in a single fish species only, with low infection levels. The most frequently encountered species were Caligus asperimanus Pearse, 1951, Caligus mutabilis Wilson, 1905 and Caligus rufimaculatus Wilson, 1905. Taxonomic remarks are presented for some of the species recorded during this survey. All but two sea lice records are new to Ecuador, considerably expanding the geographical range of some species.

Parasitic copepods (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) on fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific

“…The morphology of our specimens (♂ and ♀) fits with the description of Ho and Lin (2004). Additionally, based on the examination of the present material and also that from previous surveys in the Eastern Pacific (Morales-Serna et al 2014, 2015), we suggest that the shape of the first segment of the antenna and sternal furca may be useful in identifying C.confusus . Clearly, C.confusus has high affinity for carangid fish; nonetheless, this parasite can also be found on fish from different families.…”

“…Several copepods species can parasitize multiple fish species (Dojiri and Ho 2013). This is the case of C.mutabilis found on Lutjanusmonostigma and L.fulvus in the present study however, this species has been reported in at least 13 families of marine fishes from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (Morales-Serna et al 2015).…”

“…from Celebes; Epinephelustauvina (Forsskål) (Serranidae) from Kuwait; Rhabdosargusholubi (Steindachner) (Sparidae) from South Africa; Serioladumerili (Risso) (Carangidae) from Taiwan; Seriola sp. (Carangidae) from Colombia (Kabata 1968, Grobler et al 2003, Ho and Lin 2004, Yuniar et al 2007, Kazachenko et al 2014, Morales-Serna et al 2014, 2015, Boxshall 2018).…”

“…These authors noted an incomplete 2-segmented abdomen and at least two other differences from the type specimens; however, such differences were not considered sufficient to propose a new species. Recently, Morales-Serna et al (2014, 2015) reported C.mutabilis from different host species in the Eastern Pacific, but a molecular analysis revealed relatively high intraspecific genetic divergence among the C.mutabilis isolates. Our specimens share the morphological characteristics described by Cressey and Cressey (1980).…”

Persistent companionships: The parasitic copepod community of the dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus on the Ecuadorian coast

“…According to Walter and Boxshall (2021), the family Caligidae comprises 63 genera, which include ~911 valid species, 440 of which belong to the genus Caligus . The predominance of Caligus found in our study is consistent with what was reported by Morales‐Serna et al (2015), who analyzed 23 host species from the coast of Ecuador and also found several species of Caligus (22 spp. ), thus confirming the high abundance of this family as a parasite of marine fish in Ecuadorian waters.…”