New Record of a Marine Fish Parasite Nerocila trichiura (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothoidae) from Japan, with its Confirmed Distribution in the Western North Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The cymothoid isopod Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877) is reported based on an ovigerous female from the ventral body surface of a flyingfish, Cypselurus hiraii Abe, 1953 (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae), in the coastal Pacific waters of central Japan. This represents the first record of N. trichiura from Japan, and C. hiraii is a new host record for this isopod. Nerocila trichiura has been reported from the tropical and middle-latitude waters of the Indian and Atlantic oceans and was recorded in 1881 from the Philippines. This paper confirms that the species occurs in the western North Pacific Ocean.