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

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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.