Resumen de First record of parasitic isopod Mothocya melanosticta (Schiödte and Meinert, 1884) (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) on blue flying fish Exocoetus volitans and Indian sardine Sardinella sindensis from the southeast coast of India.
P. Vigneshwaran, S. Ravichandran, Melissa B. Martin, D. Karthick Rajan
Cymothoid isopods are parasitic crustaceans of fishes that can cause considerable damage to their host. The first record of Mothocya melanosticta (Schiöedte and Meinert 1884) parasitizing blue flying fish Exocoetus volitans Linnaeus 1758 and Indian sardine Sardinella sindensis (Day, 1878) is here reported from the southeast coast of India. The species M. melanosticta has not been previously reported on members of the Clupeidae family of fishes. Mothocya melanosticta occurs in the Indian and Pacific oceans, with a new locality from India in this present study. Collected cymothoiids ranged from a moderate body size of 14.7─17.0 mm (ovigerous female) and 8.1─10.2 mm (male). Mothocya melanosticta is recognized by the rostrum moderately produced and folded back, coxae 2─5 progressively longer than wide, coxae 6 and 7 distinctly rounded, short pleotelson, pleopods 3─5 endopods with moderately developed proximomedial lobes and pleopods 5 larger in size than pleopods 4.
