Parasitic isopods from marine fishes off Nagapattinam coast, India

This study was conducted from August 2013 to January 2014. Host fishes were collected from the Nagapattinam Coast, India. During the sampling period, 242 fishes were infested out of 1440 specimens examined from nine different species of marine fishes. A total of 267 parasitic isopods belonging to nine cymothoid species viz., Anilocra dimidiata (Bleeker 1857), Catoessa boscii (Bleeker 1857), Cymothoa indica (Schioedte and Meinert 1884), Joryma sawayah (Bowman and Tareen 1983), Nerocila arres (Bowman and Tareen 1983), N.loveni (Bovallius 1887) N. phaiopleura (Bleeker 1857), N. serra (Schioedte and Meinert 1881) and N.sundaica (Bleeker 1857) were collected. The Nerocila species were attached to the pectoral fin, the caudal peduncle and different regions of the body surface of the host fishes. The specimen belonging to the species Catoessa boscii, Cymothoa indica and Joryma sawayah were collected from the mouth and the branchial cavity of the infected fishes. Anilocra dimidiata was only found on the body surface of the host fish. The overall prevalence reached 16.80 %. A maximum prevalence was observed in C. boscii parasitizing Carangoides malabaricus (26.81 %) and a minimum prevalence in N. sundaica parasitizing Terapon puta (P = 7.31 %). The mean intensity ranged from 1 to 1.3.