NEW UNUSUAL ASSOCIATIONS INVOLVING PARASITIC ISOPODS BY A. SUAT ATES ¸ 1), JEAN-PAUL TRILLES2,4),ALI˙ I¸˙SMEN3) and C. ÇI˙GDEM˘ YIGIN˘ 3) 1) Department of Marine Biology, Fisheries Faculty, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, TR-17100 Çanakkale, Turkey 2) UMR 5171 (Génome, Populations, Interactions, Adaptation), Equipe Adaptation Ecophysiologique et Ontogenèse, Université de Montpellier 2, CC.092, Place E. Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France 3) Department of Fishing and Processing Technology, Fisheries Faculty, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, TR-17100 Çanakkale,Turkey Isopods of the family Cymothoidae (Peracarida, Isopoda, Flabellifera) are found especially in coastal waters, but also sometimes in deep waters (Trilles, 1964; Trilles & Justine, 2004; Horton et al., 2005), infecting marine, freshwater, or brackishwater, either wild or cultured, bony fish (“Pisces”, Osteichthyes). However, they have occasionally been collected from several other organisms: also Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) have incidentally been reported as hosts for some species (Moreira & Sadowsky, 1978; Brusca, 1981; Trilles, 1994; Bunkley-Williams & Williams, 1998; Öktener & Trilles, 2004). A few cymothoids have occasionally been found on sponges, jellyfish, crustaceans, cephalopods, amphibians, and even humans (Trilles & Öktener, 2004). Yet, it seems that such “unusual” associations are the more frequent in the case of cephalopods, shrimps, and particularly sharks and skates. Regarding crustaceans, only the South-American freshwater cymothoid Telotha henselii (Von Martens, 1869) has sometimes been reported as an ectoparasite on shrimps from the family Palaemonidae as noted earlier by Trilles & Ök- tener (2004): Palaemonetes argentinus Nobili, 1901 from Brazil (Lemos de Castro & Gomes Corrêa, 1982) and Argentina (Taberner et al., 2003); Macro- brachium brasiliense (Heller, 1862) from Brazil (Lemos de Castro, 1985); Ma- crobrachium borelli (Nobili, 1896) from Argentina (Taberner, 1993); M. borelli and Pseudopalaemon bouvieri Sollaud, 1911 from Argentina (Grassini, 1994). Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Decapoda, Nephropidae) were col- lected in the course of a study on demersal fisheries resources and population 4) Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected] © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006 Crustaceana 79 (3): 375-380 Also available online: www.brill.nl 376 NOTES AND NEWS patterns of fish species of Saros Bay (northeastern Aegean Sea; GPS coordinates: 40◦2954N26◦2967E) undertaken by the Fisheries Faculty of the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. They were caught on 25.viii.2005, at a depth of 366 m with a sandy muddy substrate, and by a bottom trawl with a cod-end mesh size of 22 mm. Two parasitic isopods belonging to the family Cymothoidae were collected from the eggs of Nephrops. According to Trilles (1972, 1976, 1994), one specimen (total length = 12 mm) was identified as the male phase of Ceratothoa italica Schioedte & Meinert, 1883 (subfamily Ceratothoinae) and the other (total length = 7 mm) as, maybe provi- sionally, a male Livoneca pomatomi (Gaillat Airoldi, 1940) (subfamily Livoneci- nae) in the moulting process. Specimens are now preserved in the Fisheries Faculty (Coll. A. S. Ate¸s) of the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. Ceratothoa italica, a buccal cymothoid according to the classification of Trilles (1969), belongs to the Atlantico-Mediterranean group of species C. italica / C. oestroides (Risso, 1826) / C. capri (Trilles, 1964), of which the male stage does not bear an appendix masculina on pleopod 2. This species is widely distributed in the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea, and in the Atlantic Ocean along the north- western coasts of Africa (Trilles, 1994; Horton, 2000; Öktener & Trilles, 2004; Bariche & Trilles, 2005). Normally, it infects several teleost species belonging to the families Sparidae (Lithognathus mormyrus (Linnaeus, 1758), Pagellus erythrinus (Linnaeus, 1758), Oblada melanura (Linnaeus, 1758), Spondyliosoma cantharus Tortonese, 1973, and Sargus sp.), Centracanthidae (Spicara maena (Linnaeus, 1758)), and Moronidae (Dicentrarchus labrax (Linnaeus, 1758)). Livoneca pomatomi (Gaillat Airoldi, 1940), a branchial cymothoid (Trilles, 1969), seems rather uncommon. L. pomatomi was collected only four times [in Genoa, Italy (Gaillat Airoldi, 1940), Sete, France (Trilles, 1976), between Tabarka and La Galite, Tunisia (Trilles & Raibaut, 1973), Alger, Bou Haroun, Algeria (Dollfus & Trilles, 1976)], infecting mainly two bathypelagic fishes (Epigonus telescopus (Risso, 1810) and Gadiculus argenteus Guichenot, 1850), and problably accidentally the coastal fish, Boops boops Cuvier, 1814. Yet, according to Bruce (1990), the status of this species is uncertain and needs further studies. However, the whereabouts of the type are unknown (Trilles, 1994). Moreover, five species of Ceratothoa were already collected on unusual organ- isms: C. oxyrrhynchaena (Koelbel, 1878) on sponges (Trilles, 1972), C. imbricata (Fabricius, 1775) on jellyfish (Haswell, 1880), C. collaris Schioedte & Meinert, 1883, C. gaudichaudii (H. Milne Edwards, 1840), and C. parallela (Otto, 1828) on sharks and skates (Trilles & Raibaut, 1973; Capapé & Pantoustier, 1976; Jaramillo, 1977; Öktener & Trilles, 2004). Some species of Livoneca were also previously reported from cephalopods [L. sinuata Koelbel, 1878 (cf. Bello & Mariniello,.