Ceratothoa barracuda Martin, Bruce & Nowak, 2015

Martin, Melissa B., Tuah, Alia, Muhamad, Juariah H. & Bruce, Niel L., 2022, A review of the family Cymothoidae (Isopoda: Cymothooidea) infesting marine fishes from Malaysian waters, with new host and geographical records, Zootaxa 5222 (1), pp. 1-36 : 7

Ceratothoa barracuda Martin, Bruce & Nowak, 2015

( Fig. 3 A–D )

Ceratothoa sp. 1 .— Trilles, 1979: 269, pl. 2, fig. 13.

Ceratothoa barracuda Martin, Bruce & Nowak, 2015a: 261 , figs. 5–8.

Material examined. 1 ovig. ♀ (19 mm TL; 6 mm W) ( UMT Crus 01160), 1 mature ♁ (7 mm TL; 3 mm W) ( UMT Crus 01161), St 109, EEZ, 04º 44’ 85” N; 104º 39’ 4518” E, 15 July 2016, from buccal cavity of Sphyraena forsteri , coll. SEAFDEC .

Host. Only known from the family Sphyraenidae : bigeye barracuda Sphyraena forsteri (Cuvier, 1829) ( Martin et al. 2015a, present study).

Distribution. Malaysia, Terengganu; northern Australia ( Martin et al. 2015a); West Papua ( Trilles 1979). Based on the known host association and its distribution, Ceratothoa barracuda may have an Indo-Pacific distribution from East Africa and Southeast Asia to Japan and south of New Caledonia ( Froese and Pauly 2022).

Remarks. Ceratothoa barracuda is a new record for Malaysian waters and identified by elongate body; subtriangular cephalon; subacute anterolateral projections on pereonite 1; pleotelson with convex posterior margin; pereopods 5–7 bases with strong carinae and enlarged ischium ( Martin et al. 2015a). Most similar to Ceratothoa carinata , but C. carinata with pleotelson posterior margin strongly concave; enlarged ischium and basis only present on pereopod 7; antennula articles distally to article 4 narrower than those of C. barracuda (Martin et al. 2015) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Ceratothoa barracuda Martin, Bruce & Nowak, 2015. A, dorsal view; B, ventral view, female (19.44 mm), (UMT Crus 01160); C, dorsal view; D, ventral view, male (7.94 mm), (UMT Crus 01161). Scale: 5 mm.