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Caligus tunisiensis n. sp. (Copepoda: Caligidae) parasitic on the painted comber Serranus scriba (L.) (Perciformes: Serranidae) from the Mediterranean Sea, off the Tunisian coast

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Abstract

A new species of parasitic copepod, Caligus tunisiensis n. sp. (Caligidae), is described based on two female specimens collected from the gills of the painted comber, Serranus scriba (L.), caught in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Tunisian coasts. The new species belongs to the Caligus productus-species group established by Boxshall & Gurney (1980) as it shares the following set of character states: (i) antenna with well-developed posterior process on proximal segment; (ii) posterior margin of distal exopodal segment of leg 1 lacking typical plumose setae, or retaining single vestigial seta; and (iii) 2-segmented exopod of leg 4 armed with IV spines on compound distal exopodal segment. Detailed morphological comparisons between the new species and the core members of the C. productus-species group revealed that the new species closely resembles with C. productus Dana, 1852 and C. temnodontis Brian, 1924. However, the new species can be distinguished from its congeners in having: (i) a female maxilliped bearing a prominent bi-lobate myxal process, opposing tip of the claw; (ii) leg 4 protopod ornamented with a patch of spinules on the posterolateral surface; and (iii) an abdomen ornamented with two rows of minute spinules at the posterolateral corners.

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Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to Professor Selma Erat (Head of the Advanced Technologies Research & Application Center (MEITAM) of Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey), and all staff of MEITAM for providing access to Zeiss LSM 700 CLSM and their administrative and technical support during our studies. We also would like to thank to Professor Suphan Karaytuğ and Dr Seher Kuru (Department of Biology, Mersin University) for their hospitality and help during our stay in Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey. The authors also wish to thank the local fishermen for their help in obtaining the fish samples.

Funding

This study was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Tunisia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biodiversity, Parasitology and Ecology of Aquatic Ecosystems, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, 2092, Tunisia

    Ilhem Hamdi, Bouchra Benmansour & Sabiha Zouari-Tlig

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Art and Science, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, 15030, Turkey

    Seyit Ali Kamanli

  3. Department of Aquaculture and Fish Diseases, Faculty of Fisheries, Cukurova University, Sarıcam, Adana, 01330, Turkey

    Argun Akif Özak

  4. Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Crowell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Geoffrey Allan Boxshall

Authors
  1. Ilhem Hamdi
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  2. Bouchra Benmansour
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  3. Sabiha Zouari-Tlig
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  4. Seyit Ali Kamanli
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  5. Argun Akif Özak
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  6. Geoffrey Allan Boxshall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Argun Akif Özak.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Tunis El Manar in Tunis, Tunisia. All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the use and care of animals were followed. Fish samples studied in this study were maintained according to the guidelines of the animal facility at Laboratory of Biodiversity, Parasitology and Ecology of Aquatic Ecosystems Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar. Specimens of the Caligus species used herein, were collected from purchased dead fish samples caught by the local fishermen. Previously fixed specimens of the other species of Caligus stored in the collections of the Aquatic Parasitology Museum of the Faculty of Fisheries in Cukurova University (CUMAP) were used for the habitus drawings. Therefore, this study was granted exemption from requiring ethics approval.

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This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:52DED220-87AF-4E66-B7D0-125055514C7A. This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number. This is the Version of Record.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Video S1 Caligus tunisiensis n. sp., holotype female. Patch of spinules on posterolateral corner of abdomen (WMV 14076 kb)

Video S2 Caligus tunisiensis n. sp., holotype female. Teeth on mandible (WMV 2654 kb)

Video S3 Caligus tunisiensis n. sp., holotype female. Patch of spinules on ventral surface of leg 1 coxa (WMV 5151 kb)

Video S4 Caligus tunisiensis n. sp., holotype female. Patch of spinules on leg 4 protopod (WMV 12069 kb)

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Hamdi, I., Benmansour, B., Zouari-Tlig, S. et al. Caligus tunisiensis n. sp. (Copepoda: Caligidae) parasitic on the painted comber Serranus scriba (L.) (Perciformes: Serranidae) from the Mediterranean Sea, off the Tunisian coast. Syst Parasitol 98, 57–71 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-020-09959-9

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