Meeting Abstract
Parasitic copepods have evolved a diversity of highly modified body types to suite their varied lifestyles. Reduction and loss of appendages and simplification of the general body are hallmarks of adaptation to parasitic life. The Pennellidae (Siphonostomatoida), comprising more than 130 species in 20 genera, is one of the most highly modified families. Following mating females penetrate into the host’s tissue and transform their body without molting. Pennelids are mesoparasites of marine fishes and whales, and species that infest commercial fishes have been most studied. Gobioidei (Actinopterygii: Perciformes) is one of the most diverse groups of marine to freshwater fishes, comprising more than 2100 species. Since many gobies are less than 150 mm in length, they have limited value to fisheries. Consequently their parasites have remained understudied, and only three species of pennellids, Cardiodectes rotundicaudatus Izawa, 1970, Haemobaphes diceraus C. B. Wilson, 1917 and Serpentisaccus magnificus Blasiola, 1979, have been documented from gobies. During recent field surveys using SCUBA diving, twelve species of pennellids were found on gobies collected in the coastal waters of Japan, Philippines, New Caledonia, Australia and Papua New Guinea; eleven of these were undescribed. This shows that parasitic copepods are greatly underdescribed and their diversity will only be understood when all fishes are surveyed.
