Parasitic copepods (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) on fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific

Abstract

We surveyed copepods parasitic on the fishes at Palmyra, a remote atoll in the Central Indo-Pacific faunal region. In total, we collected 849 individual fish, representing 44 species, from the intertidal lagoon flats at Palmyra and recovered 17 parasitic copepod species. The parasitic copepods were: Orbitacolax williamsi on Mulloidichthys flavolineatus ; Anuretes serratus on Acanthurus xanthopterus ; Caligus confusus on Carangoides ferdau , Carangoides orthogrammus , Caranx ignobilis , Caranx melampygus , and Caranx papuensis ; Caligus kapuhili on Chaetodon auriga and Chaetodon lunula ; Caligus laticaudus on Rhinecanthus aculeatus , Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus , M. flavolineatus , Upeneus taeniopterus , Chrysiptera glauca , and Epinephalus merra ; Caligus mutabilis on Lutjanus fulvus and Lutjanus monostigma ; Caligus randalli on C. ignobilis ; Caligus sp. on L. fulvus ; Caritus serratus on Chanos chanos ; Lepeophtheirus lewisi on A. xanthopterus ; Lepeophtheirus uluus on C. ignobilis ; Dissonus similis on Arothron hispidus ; Nemesis sp. on Carcharhinus melanopterus ; Hatschekia longiabdominalis on A. hispidus ; Hatschekia bicaudata on Chaetodon auriga and Chaetodon lunula ; Kroyeria longicauda on C. melanopterus and Lernanthropus sp. on Kyphosus cinerascens . All copepod species reported here have been previously reported from the Indo-Pacific but represent new geographical records for Palmyra, demonstrating large-scale parasite dispersion strategies.