Abstract
One cirripedian epizoit and several immature amphipod whale louse were obtained from the skin of a killer whale (Orcinus orca) captured in the western North Pacific off Kii Peninsula in 1988. The barnacle was identified to be Xenobalanus globicipitis Steenstrup, 1851 representing the first record from a killer whale, but the whale louse of the genus Cyamus could not be identified to species. Epizoits are not parasitic but to be commensal (e.g. phoresy). It has been suggested that settlement of X. globicipitis and another cirripedian group (the genera Lepas and Conchoderma: Lepadidae) on dolphins might increase because of reduced movement and/or impaired regenerative and immune functioning of the skin prior to death. Hence, monitoring of such cirripedian species is needed.
