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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.21, 166-172
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
170
Figure 5 Photographs and Camera Lucida drawings of
Ceratothoa
capri
from the Red Sea, Yemen coast
grossly evident at the sites where
N. orbignyi
was
attached to both
M. seheli
and
L. aurata
of the present
investigation.
N. orbignyi
settles preferentially on members of the
family Mugilidae (Trilles, 1994; Öktener and Trilles,
2004). According to Trilles and Raibaut (1973),
N.
orbignyi
has been collected from
Alosa agone
(Scopoli, 1786)
(reported as
Alosa fallax nilotica
),
Mugil cephalus
(Linnaeus, 1758),
Liza aurata
(reported as
Mugil auratus
),
Liza ramada
(Risso, 1827)
(reported as
Mugil capito
Cuvier, 1829),
Chelon
labrosus
(Risso, 1827)
(reported as
Mugil chelo
Cuvier, 1829) and
Chelon labrosus
(Risso, 1827)
(reported as
Mugil labrosus
). Charfi-Cheikrouha et al.
(2000) reported
N. orbignyi
from
Liza ramada
,
Liza
saliens
(Risso, 1810),
L. aurata
,
Dicentrarchus
labrax
(Linnaeus, 1758),
Solea solea
(Linnaeus, 1758),
Serranus scriba
(Linnaeus, 1758),
Chelon labrosus
and
Diplodus annularis
(Linnaeus, 1758). However,
N.
orbignyi
has also been reported from several other
fishes such as
Chimaera
sp.
by Hale (1926),
Halobatrachus didactylus
(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
and
Solea senegalensis
(Kaup, 1858) by Dollfus and
Trilles (1976),
Callorhinchus milii
Bory de Saint-Vincent,
1823,
Acanthopagrus australis
(Günther, 1859),
Pagrus auratus
(Forster, 1801)
(reported as
Chrysophrys
auratus
),
Pseudocaranx dentex
(Bloch & Schneider,
1801),
Mola mola
(Linnaeus, 1758),
Sillago bassensis
Cuvier, 1829,
Pomatomus saltatrix
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Girella tricuspidata
(Quoy & Gaimard, 1824),
Chelidonichthys kumu
(Cuvier, 1829)
and
Dactyloptena
orientalis
(Cuvier, 1829) by Bruce (1987),
Trigla lyra
Linnaeus, 1758 and
Symphodus tinca
(Linnaeus, 1758)
by Ramdane et al. (2007) and
Sarotherodon
galilaeus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
(reported as
Tilapia galilaea
)
by
Wunder (1961).
In connection with the geographical distribution,
N.
orbignyi
is widely distributed in the Mediterranean,
Black Sea, Aegean Sea along the Turkish coasts
(Öktener and Trilles, 2004), Morocco (Dollfus and
Trilles, 1976), Tunisia (Trilles and Raibaut, 1973;
Charfi-Cheikrouha et al., 2000), Italy (Merella and
Garippa, 2001), Algeria (Ramdane et al., 2007),
Mediterranean, Northwest Africa, Red Sea in Egypt
and New Zealand (Trilles, 1994), Southern Western
Australian coasts (Bruce, 1987) and Portugal (Marques
et al., 2005). As no previous record of
N. orbignyi
existed from the Red Sea of Yemen, the present study
provides the first record of this isopod
from fishes of
the Red Sea within the Yemeni coastal waters.
4.2
Cymothoa exigua
Schioedte and Meinert, 1884
Female of
C. exigua
attaches to the tongue and the
male attaches on the gill arches beneath and behind
the female. It extracts blood through the claws on its
front causing the tongue to atrophy from lack of blood.
The parasite then replaces the fish tongue by attaching
its own body to the muscles of the tongue stub. The
fish is able to use the parasite just like a normal
tongue. It appears that the parasite does not cause any
other damage to the host fish (Brusca and Gilligan,
1983). According to WoRMS (2013), there are 47
species of
Cymothoa
but among these species, only
C.
exigua
is known to consume and replace the tongue of
its host (Thatcher et al., 2007). It is believed that
C.
exigua
is not physically harmful to humans unless
picked up alive, in which case they can bite as some
customers in Puerto Rico claimed to have been
poisoned by eating an isopod cooked inside a snapper.
This case, however, was dropped stating that isopods
are not poisonous to humans and some are even
consumed as part of a regular diet (Williams and
Bunkley-Willliams, 2003).
According to Brusca (1981),
C. exigua
is known to
parasitize
Orthopristis reddingi
Jordan & Richardson,
1895,
Leuresthes sardina
(Jenkins & Evermann,
1889),
Cynoscion othonopterus
Jordan & Gillbert,
1882,
Lutjanus peru
(Nichols & Murphy, 1922),
Lutjanus guttatus
(Steindachner, 1869),
Micropogonias