J. Ocean Univ. China (Oceanic and Coastal Sea Research) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-020-4474-5 ISSN 1672-5182, 2020 19 (6): 1409-1420 http://www.ouc.edu.cn/xbywb/ E-mail:
[email protected] Morphology and Phylogeny of Taeniacanthus yamagutii Shiino, 1957 (Hexanauplia: Taeniacanthidae), a Copepod Infecting the Gills of Rosy Goatfish Parupeneus rubescens (Mullidae) in the Arabian Gulf ABDEL-GABER Rewaida1), 2), *, AL-QURAISHY Saleh1), DKHIL Mohamed A.1), 3), ALGHAMDI Masheil1), ALGHAMDI Jawahir1), and KADRY Mohamed2) 1) Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 2) Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt 3) Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo 11794, Egypt (Received February 1, 2020; revised June 18, 2020; accepted July 7, 2020) © Ocean University of China, Science Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2020 Abstract The present study was to investigate the copepodid species infecting rosy goatfish Parupeneus rubescens, one of the most economically important fishes in the Arabian Gulf. A copepodid species identified from the examined fish specimens belongs to the Taeniacanthidae family and is labeled as Taeniacanthus yamagutii Shiino, 1957, mainly depending on its morphological, mor- phometric, and ultrastructural characteristics, in particular the presence of maxilliped claw with a conspicuous digitiform process at the base, the terminal process of the second maxilla stout, and a setiform element at the tip of each exopod spine of legs 2–4. In order to ensure the accurate identification and exact taxonomic characterization of this species, the 28S rRNA gene sequence was analyzed.