First host record of Ceratothoa oxyrrhynchaena (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) infesting the serranid fish, Sacura margaritacea (Perciformes: Serranidae)

Abstract

An immature cymothoid isopod was found infesting a serranid fish, Sacura margaritacea (Hilgendorf, 1879) (Perciformes: Serranidae), captured off Hiratsuka (Kanagawa Prefecture) in the Sagami Bay along the Pacific coast of central Japan. In molecular analyses, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 16S rRNA sequences of the cymothoid specimen shared ≥99% identity with those of Ceratothoa oxyrrhynchaena Koelbel, 1878 in GenBank. The produced anterolateral margins of pereonite 1 and the well-expanded carina at the posterior margin of pereopod 7 basis in the present specimen were in close agreement with the diagnostic characteristics of adult of C. oxyrrhynchaena, corroborating the results of molecular analyses. This finding represents a new host record of C. oxyrrhynchaena.