First record of the parasitic copepod, lernanthropus indicus (Crustacea: Lernanthropidae)‎ on carangoides bajad from the red sea, Egypt

Abstract EN

The present work investigated Lernanthropidae copepod genus Lernanthropus based on adult female specimens removed from the gills of orange spotted travally Carangoides bajad, a commercially important teleost fish species of the Red Sea, Egypt in during the period from April 2015 to March 2016.

A total of 82 C.

bajad (Local name: Bayad) were examined, 35 specimens were identified as Lernanthropus indicus.

Lernanthropus indicus is an important pest of economically valuable importance fishes in seawater and, therefore, can cause severe damage to the host tissues.

The present work represents the first record for the presence of this parasite in C.

bajad fish as a new host in Red Sea water.

The presented results were investigated by scanning electron microscopy.

Female body surface ventrally ornamented with patches of setules and elongated with long egg sacs.

Cephalothorax with dorsal shield slightly is narrower anteriorly.

SEM showed that the 2nd antenna of Lernanthropus is characteristically prehensile and uncinate and thus provides the main force for the attachment to the host tissue.