ACUARIOIDEA

Arai, Hisao P. & Smith, John W., 2016, Guide to the Parasites of Fishes of Canada Part V: Nematoda, Zootaxa 4185 (1), pp. 1-274 : 114-115

Superfamily ACUARIOIDEA Railliet, Henry & Sisoff, 1912

Acuariidae is the only Family recognised within the Superfamily Acuarioidea ( Anderson, 2000) . The Family is represented in Canadian fishes mainly by larvae of three members of the Subfamily Acuariinae Railliet, Henry and Sisoff, 1912, namely, * Cosmocephalus obvelatus , * Paracuaria adunca and * Syncuaria squamata . The only other acuariid record is that of G. A. Black (1981a) who listed a larva representing the Subfamily Seuratiinae from Salvelinus fontinalis in Quebec; the record is included here for the sake of completeness, although no morphological details were provided.

Adult acuariines inhabit the upper alimentary tract mainly of birds. Those that parasitize aquatic final hosts, as in the present cases, develop to L 3 in the haemocoel of aquatic crustaceans (amphipods and ostracods for example). Various forage and piscivorous fish species serve as paratenic hosts of L3.

Adults of the three genera ( Cosmocephalus , Paracuaria , Syncuaria ) are distinguished by the structure of cephalic ornamentations (the cordons) and deirids. These features are not fully developed at the L3 stage so design of a key for their identification is impossible.