Rediscovery of Phrixocephalus alatus after 70 years with a new host record

Abstract

Phrixocephalus alatus Shiino, 1956 is a parasitic copepod belonging to the family Pennellidae. No additional records of this species have been reported since its original description based on a specimen collected from the red seabream Pagrus major (Temminck and Schlegel, 1844) in Suruga Bay, northwestern Pacific Ocean. In the present study, one specimen of this copepod was obtained from the eyeball of a yellowback seabream Dentex hypselosomus Bleeker, 1854, collected from the Sea of Japan. Based on morphological characteristics, the specimen was identified as Ph. alatus . We infer that this species is able to utilize other sparid species as hosts.