Taxonomy and ecology of the parasitic copepod lernanthropids (Siphonostomatoida) collected from marine fishes along the southeast coast of India

Abstract

Sixteen parasitic copepods (Siphonostomatoida) including six different genera (Lernanthropinus Ho & Do, Lernanthropsis Do, Lernanthropus de Balinville, Mitrapus Song & Chen, Norion Nordmann, Sagum Wilson C. B.) of the family Lernanthropidae Kabata were studied from marine fishes of South Indian coastal waters. All marine fishes were collected from the fishing ports of Nagapattinam and Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu, southeast coast of India for three years from January 2010 to December 2013. Off 16 species, 2 were Lernanthropinus, 1 Lernanthropsis, 10 Lernanthropus, 1 Mitrapus, 1 Norion and 1 Sagum. They are: Lernanthropinus forficatus Redkar, Rangnekar et Murti (Host: Trichiurus savala), L. sphyraenae Yamaguti & Yamasu (Host: Mene maculata) Lernanthropsis mugilii Shishido (Host: Mugil cephalus) Lernanthropus corniger Yamaguti (Host: Megalaspis cordyla), L. dussumieria Gnanamuthu (Hosts: Dussumieria elopsides and Stolephorus indicus), L. latis Yamaguti (Host: Latus calcarifer), L. lativentris Heller (Host: Lethrinus harak), L. leiognathi Tripathi (Host: Leiognathus lineolatus), L. otolithi Pillai (Host: Nibea albida), L. polynemi Richiardi (Host: Eleutheronema tetradactylum), L. sillaginis Pillai (Host: Sillago sihama), L. tylosuri Richiardi (Host: Tylosurus crocodilus crocodilus), Lernanthropus sp. (Host: Euleptorhamphus viridis) Mitrapus heteropodus Yu (Host: Tenualosa toli) Norion priacanthi Kirtisinghe (Host: Pri Kabata were studied from marine fishes of South Indian coastal waters. All marine fishes were collected from the fishing ports of Nagapattinam and Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu, southeast coast of India for three years from January 2010 to December 2013. Off 16 species, 2 were Lernanthropinus, 1 Lernanthropsis, 10 Lernanthropus, 1 Mitrapus, 1 Norion and 1 Sagum. They are: Lernanthropinus forficatus Redkar, Rangnekar et Murti (Host: Trichiurus savala), L. sphyraenae Yamaguti & Yamasu (Host: Mene maculata) Lernanthropsis mugilii Shishido (Host: Mugil cephalus) Lernanthropus corniger Yamaguti (Host: Megalaspis cordyla), L. dussumieria Gnanamuthu (Hosts: Dussumieria elopsides and Stolephorus indicus), L. latis Yamaguti (Host: Latus calcarifer), L. lativentris Heller (Host: Lethrinus harak), L. leiognathi Tripathi (Host: Leiognathus lineolatus), L. otolithi Pillai (Host: Nibea albida), L. polynemi Richiardi (Host: Eleutheronema tetradactylum), L. sillaginis Pillai (Host: Sillago sihama), L. tylosuri Richiardi (Host: Tylosurus crocodilus crocodilus), Lernanthropus sp. (Host: Euleptorhamphus viridis) Mitrapus heteropodus Yu (Host: Tenualosa toli) Norion priacanthi Kirtisinghe (Host: Pri