The mesoparasitic copepod Trifur tortuosus Wilson, 1917 (Pennellidae): Redescription with notes on its congeners

Abstract

The genus Trifur Wilson, 1917 (Siphonostomatoida, Pennellidae) comprises relatively large and conspicuous parasitic copepods infecting the body surface and gills of several marine fishes. Variations in the gross morphology have been used to discriminate between the existing species of Trifur, however all previous descriptions of these species are brief, lacking many important characteristics, especially those of the head and trunk appendages, which usually were lost in the described specimens. In this paper, T. tortuosus is redescribed based on newly collected material from three species of fishes from Argentinean coasts. A detailed description of appendages morphology is given and the validity of T. merluccii Talice, 1936; T. puntaniger Thomé, 1963; T. physiculi Heegaard, 1962 and T. lotellae (Thomson, 1890) is herewith discussed.

The metazoan parasite communities of the Argentinean sandperch Pseudopercis semifasciata (Pisces: Perciformes) and their use to elucidate the stock structure of the host

“…The parasite fauna of the Argentinean sandperch has recently been recorded in waters off Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) by Luque et al (2008). However, in the Argentine Sea only the presence of the parasitic copepods Sarcotaces verrucosus Olsson, 1872 and Trifur tortuosus Wilson, 1922, has been reported for this host species (González and Tanzola, 2000 ;Etchegoin et al 2009), and their parasite communities remain almost unknown. The aim of this study is therefore 2-fold : (1) to characterize the parasite fauna of P. semifasciata in 3 zones of the Argentine sea, including 2 localities in the Bonaerense region and 1 in North Patagonian waters ; and (2) to identify the existence of different stocks of Argentinean sandperch in these areas by using its parasites as biological tags.…”