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Type: Article
Published: 2012-12-17
Page range: 20–28
Abstract views: 193
PDF downloaded: 0

Bomolochid copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda: Bomolochidae) parasitizing immigrant and native barracuda (Actinopterygii: Sphyraenidae) caught off the Egyptian Mediterranean coast

Department of Oceanography, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Moharram Bey, Alexandria, Egypt.
Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK.
Parasitic Copepoda invasive species fish hosts Red Sea immigrants Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Two species of parasitic copepods (Family Bomolochidae) are reported from two species of barracudas (Family Sphyraenidae) caught in Mediterranean waters off Alexandria, Egypt. Nothobomolochus denticulatus (Bassett- Smith, 1898) is recorded on yellowstripe barracuda, Sphyraena chrysotaenia Klunzinger, which is an immigrant from the Red Sea that has become established in the Mediterranean. This is a new geographical record of N. denticulatus from the Mediterranean and the female of N. denticulatus is redescribed in detail. Bomolochus unicirrus Brian, 1902 is recorded on European barracuda, Sphyraena sphyraena (L.), a fish native to the Mediterranean, and slight differences between this material and material from the Atlantic, off Mauritania, are noted.