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First record of the snapper-choking isopod Cymothoa excisa (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitizing invasive lionfish Pterois volitans (Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2017

Alfonso Aguilar-Perera Open the ORCID record for Alfonso Aguilar-Perera [Opens in a new window] ,
Luis Quijano-Puerto ,
Evelyn Carrillo-Flota ,
Ernest H. Williams  and
Lucy Bunkley-Williams
Alfonso Aguilar-Perera*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, México
Luis Quijano-Puerto
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, México
Evelyn Carrillo-Flota
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, México
Ernest H. Williams
Affiliation:
Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico (retired), 1827 Paseo Los Robles, Mayagüez, PR 00682-7900, Puerto Rico
Lucy Bunkley-Williams
Affiliation:
Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico (retired), 1827 Paseo Los Robles, Mayagüez, PR 00682-7900, Puerto Rico
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A. Aguilar-Perera Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, México email: alfaguilar@gmail.com
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Abstract

Two female snapper-choking isopods Cymothoa excisa (body length 11 and 14 mm) were in the buccal cavity of two invasive lionfish Pterois volitans (total length 294 and 301 mm) collected in Alacranes Reef, southern Gulf of Mexico. This is the first record of C. excisa parasitizing invasive lionfish P. volitans in coral reefs of the Western Atlantic, where these isopods appear to have infected the host through adult prey-predator transfer.

Keywords

Invasive lionfishisopodGulf of MexicoAlacranes Reef
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 98 , Special Issue 8: Special Section: European Marine Biology Symposium Papers 2018 , December 2018 , pp. 2095 - 2097
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2017 

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References

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