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Notes on metazoan parasites of Alepisaurus ferox and Xiphias gladius of the eastern Arabian Sea

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Abstract

Documentation of fish parasites is important in describing the biodiversity of a given water body. In this study, the first record of metazoan parasite fauna of long snouted lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) of the eastern Arabian Sea is presented. Three cestodes (Pelichnibothrium speciosum, Tentacularia coryphaenae and Hepatoxylon trichiuri) and one trematode (Botulus microporus) were collected from the lancetfish. Parasite prevalence was 98.04 % and the average intensity was 9.58. In the swordfish, all the samples were infected, and the average parasite intensity was 51.4. Five cestodes (Hepatoxylon trichiuri, Fistulicola plicatus, Nybelinia bisulcata, Nybelinia lingualis and Tentacularia coryphaenae), at least two species of nematodes (Hysterothylacium incurvum and unidentified nematodes), one species of copepode (Pennella instructa), and a trematode (Hirudinella ventricosa) were collected from the swordfish.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Director General, the Fishery Survey of India and the Zonal Director, FSI Mumbai, for providing necessary facilities for conducting this study. We are grateful to Dr. Rokkam Madhavi for identifying some of the parasites and for valuable suggestions throughout our study. We are indebted to the scientific participants, skippers, and crew of the longline survey vessels and shore staff of the Fishery Survey of India for assisting in the sample collection and to the Research Fellows, FSI, for assisting in the laboratory work. We are also thankful to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions to help us improve this manuscript.

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  1. Cochin Base of Fishery Survey of India, Kochangadi, Kochi, India, 682005

    Sijo P. Varghese & N. Unnikrishnan

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  1. Sijo P. Varghese
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  2. N. Unnikrishnan
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Correspondence to Sijo P. Varghese.

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Communicated by R. Thiel

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Varghese, S.P., Unnikrishnan, N. Notes on metazoan parasites of Alepisaurus ferox and Xiphias gladius of the eastern Arabian Sea. Mar Biodiv 46, 157–161 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-015-0346-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-015-0346-4

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