Ding, D.S., Y.Y. Chen, C.H. Chen & Y.R. Cheng. (2021). The first occurrence of Paralebion elongatus (Siphonostomatoida: Caligidae) parasite on sharptooth lemon shark, Negaprion acutidens, in the West Pacific, with a full description of a chalimus-like stage. Journal Fisheries Society Taiwan. 48(3):161-175.

450673

10.29822/JFST.202109/SP_48(3).0005 [view]

Ding, D.S., Y.Y. Chen, C.H. Chen & Y.R. Cheng

2021

48(3):161-175

Publication

Available for editors   [request]

Adult male, and female, and a chalimus-like stage of Paralebion elongatus Wilson, 1911 were obtained from examining sharptooth lemon shark, Negaprion acutidens, collected from seagrass beds of Dongsha Atoll National Park located in the north of South China Sea (SCS). The species of parasitic copepod reported herein is a newly recorded species of the host sharptooth lemon shark, N. acutidens, and also to the West Pacific. A full re-description of adult stage for both genders is provided for understanding their possible geographical variations of morphology. It is surprising that Taiwanese specimens (West Pacific) are much more similar to the specimens collected from Maryland (Atlantic) than from Hawaii (center of the Pacific) and India (Indian Ocean). A full description of a chalimus-like stage of P. elongatus is illustrated to promote our understanding of its developmental cycles. The lack of frontal filament in the chalimus-like stage supports a previous finding that some species of parasitic copepods living on sharks may lack this larval organ. Key words: parasitic copepods, new host record, new geographical record, developmental stage, Taiwan.

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