Caligus aff. mutabilis Wilson, 1905

Soler-Jimenez, Lilia C., Morales-Serna, F. Neptali, Aguirre-Macedo, Ma. Leopoldina, McLaughlin, John P., Jaramillo, Alejandra G., Shaw, Jenny C., James, Anna K., Hechinger, Ryan F., Kuris, Armand M., Lafferty, Kevin D. & Vidal-Martinez, Victor M., 2019, Parasitic copepods (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) on fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific, ZooKeys 833, pp. 85-106 : 85

Caligus aff. mutabilis Wilson, 1905

Type host.

Centropristis striata (as Centropristes striatus ) (Linnaeus) ( Serranidae ).

Other host and localities.

Centropristis striata (as Centropristes striatus ) ( Serranidae ) from North American waters ( Wilson 1905). Acanthocybium sp., Euthynnus sp., Sarda sp., Scomberomorus sp., and Thunnus sp. (all Scombridae ) from Colombia; Archosargus rhomboidalis (Linnaeus) ( Sparidae ), Chaetodipterus faber (Broussonet) ( Ephippidae ), Mycteroperca microlepis (Goode & Bean), Scomberomorus brasiliensis Collette, Russo & Zavala-Camin, Scomberomorus maculatus (Mitchill) ( Scombridae ) and Trachinotus goodei Jordan & Evermann ( Carangidae ) from Brazil; Balistes sp. ( Balistidae ), Calamus brachysomus (Lockington) ( Sparidae ), Centropomus sp. ( Centropomidae ), Chaetodipterus zonatus (Girard) ( Ephippidae ), Epinephelus labriformis (Jenyns) ( Serranidae ), Hoplopagrus guentherii Gill ( Lutjanidae ), Katsuwonus pelamis (Linnaeus) ( Scombridae ), Kyphosus elegans (Peters) ( Kyphosidae ), Lutjanus guttatus (Steindachner), Lutjanus peru (Nichols & Murphy) ( Lutjanidae ), Menticirrhus undulatus (Girard) ( Sciaenidae ), Microlepidotus brevipinnis (Steindachner) ( Haemulidae ), Mugil cephalus (Linnaeus) ( Mugilidae ), Paralabrax clathratus (Girard), Paralabrax maculatofasciatus (Steindachner), Paralabrax nebulifer (Girard) (all Serranidae ), Sarda chiliensis (Cuvier), Scomberomorus sierra Jordan & Starks ( Scombridae ) and Selene orstedii Lütken ( Carangidae ) from Mexican Pacific; S. brasiliensis from Costa Rica; Scomberomorus cavalla (Cuvier) ( Scombridae ) from Surinam; S. maculatus from Florida; Scomberomorus japonicus from Campeche (Gulf of Mexico); E. labriformis , Eucinostomus entomelas Zahuranec ( Gerreidae ), Haemulopsis axillaris (Steindachner) ( Haemulidae ), Paralabrax callaensis Starks ( Serranidae ), Chromis cyanea (Poey) and Chromis multilineata (Guichenot) ( Pomacentridae ) from Ecuador ( Cressey and Cressey 1980, Luque and Tavares 2007, Gomes-Sanches et al. 2012, Morales-Serna et al. 2016).

Current hosts.

Lutjanus fulvus and Lutjanus monostigma (Cuvier) ( Lutjanidae ).

Site of infection.

Gills..

Prevalence and mean intensity.

15.4 and 1.75 ± 1.5 (n = 26) to L. fulvus ; 16.6 and 2 (n = 6) to L. monostigma .

Specimens deposited.

CHCM No. 567 (voucher) (1 vial, 1 specimen ♂) (from L. fulvus ), CHCM No. 568 (voucher) (1 vial, 1 specimen ♂) (from L. monostigma ). USNM No. 1550601 (voucher) (1 vial, 1 specimen ♂) (from L. monostigma ).

Remarks.

Wilson (1905) observed that the genital complex of C. mutabilis varies according to the age of the individuals as well as the developmental stage of the eggs. Also, this author described C. mutabilis as having a short, 2-segmented abdomen. Later, Cressey and Cressey (1980) redescribed this species based on material collected from scombrid fish. These authors noted an incomplete 2-segmented abdomen and at least two other differences from the type specimens; however, such differences were not considered sufficient to propose a new species. Recently, Morales-Serna et al. (2014, 2015) reported C. mutabilis from different host species in the Eastern Pacific, but a molecular analysis revealed relatively high intraspecific genetic divergence among the C. mutabilis isolates. Our specimens share the morphological characteristics described by Cressey and Cressey (1980).