Notes on metazoan parasites of Alepisaurus ferox and Xiphias gladius of the eastern Arabian Sea

Abstract

Documentation of fish parasites is important in describing the biodiversity of a given water body. In this study, the first record of metazoan parasite fauna of long snouted lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) of the eastern Arabian Sea is presented. Three cestodes (Pelichnibothrium speciosum, Tentacularia coryphaenae and Hepatoxylon trichiuri) and one trematode (Botulus microporus) were collected from the lancetfish. Parasite prevalence was 98.04 % and the average intensity was 9.58. In the swordfish, all the samples were infected, and the average parasite intensity was 51.4. Five cestodes (Hepatoxylon trichiuri, Fistulicola plicatus, Nybelinia bisulcata, Nybelinia lingualis and Tentacularia coryphaenae), at least two species of nematodes (Hysterothylacium incurvum and unidentified nematodes), one species of copepode (Pennella instructa), and a trematode (Hirudinella ventricosa) were collected from the swordfish.

Philichthys xiphiae (Copepoda; Philichthyidae) – an interesting cranium parasite of the swordfish Xiphias gladius collected from the Baltic Sea

“…Given ongoing climate change, this is a particularly important issue, especially as swordfish are migratory fish, travelling long distances to feed, which can be particularly conducive to parasite expansion. To date, more than 70 parasite species have been documented in X. gladius, most of which are helminths, including species with a wider host range and high zoonotic importance (Palko et al 1981;Hogans et al 1983;Dubina 1985;Williams & Bunkley-Williams 1996;Caton et al 1998;Speare 1999;Castro-Pampillón et al 2002a,b;Garcia et al 2008Garcia et al , 2011Mattiucci et al 2014;Varghese & Unnikrishnan 2016;De Silva et al 2017). The present paper describes a preliminary study concerning a unique record of Philichthys xiphiae Steenstrup, 1862, a rarely observed and poorly studied parasitic copepod from the family Philichthyidae.…”