First record of Mothocya melanosticta Schioedte and Meinert, 1884 (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) from Egyptian pinecone soldierfish with special reference to its infestation status

Authors : Ismail Saad ELSHAHAWY, AbdelRazek Yousf DESOUKY

Pages : 577-584

View : 23 | Download : 9

Publication Date : 0000-00-00

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Cymothoidae are cosmopolitan, ubiquitous, and nonspecific parasites of fish of different biotopes causing a significant economic loss to fisheries either by killing and stunting or simply by damaging their hosts. This study represents the first record of Mothocya melanosticta from the Red Sea, with a new host record in Myripristis murdjan insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(pinecone soldierfish);, the other resident species of the fish-parasitic isopod family Cymothoidae in Egypt. The recovered Mothocya melanosticta was of moderate body size insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(17.7 × 8.2 mm); and had a cephalon with widely truncated rostrum, short pleotelson with uropod rami not extending beyond the telson, and the presence of a small rounded protrusion ranging in size from 0.3 to 0.5 mm on the lateral side of pereonite II. The overall prevalence was 31.25% and it was only found in the branchial cavity. The monthly and seasonal variation in infestation is reported.
Keywords : Key words Egypt, Mothocya melanosticta, Myripristis murdjan, prevalence, Red Sea