2020 Volume 49 Pages 23-32
The caligid copepod Gloiopotes huttoni (Thomson, 1890) was collected from the body surface of a black marlin, Istiompax indica (Cuvier, 1832), in the western North Pacific Ocean off Yonaguni-jima Island, the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan. This represents the first record of G. huttoni from I. indica in Japanese waters. This copepod is known to use almost exclusively billfishes as its hosts, but due to the past confused billfish taxonomy, the billfish hosts have been recorded using various scientific names, most of which have recently been relegated to junior synonyms. Thus, based on the current taxonomy of billfishes and the literature published between 1890 and 2019, this paper also reviews the hosts and distribution of G. huttoni. Five species of billfishes in two families [black marlin; striped marlin, Kajikia audax (Philippi, 1887); blue marlin, Makaira nigricans Lacépède, 1802; sailfish, Istiophorus platypterus (Shaw, 1792) in the Istiophoridae; and swordfish, Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758 in the Xiphiidae] serve as hosts for G. huttoni in the Pacific and Indian oceans, but four non-billfish species [bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839); yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre, 1788); wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri (Cuvier, 1832); and blue shark, Prionace glauca (Linnaeus, 1758)] are regarded as accidental hosts.
