parasites of offshore big game fishes of puerto rico - Uprm

CESTODA (TAPEWORMS)
from the scolex. The tentacle sheaths are longer than
the tentacles and the tentacle bulbs, relatively straight
in the anterior, but irregularly curled near the tentacle
bulbs. The tentacle bulbs are elongate and fill much of
the width of the scolex and slightly bulge its width.
Tentacles have 5 hooks in the principal rows and
numerous smaller hooks.
Records - Numerous capsules occurred in a cero and
several in 1 of 2 Spanish mackerel from Beaufort,
North Carolina, USA; 1 capsule in a greater amber-
jack, numerous in 3 cero (USNPC 5486 and 5491), 3
to numerous in 2 king mackerel (USNPC 4792), and
numerous in 2 Spanish mackerel (USNPC 5487) from
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
Geographic Range - Worldwide.
Life History - Adults are not known. The plerocercus
scolex remains attached to the blastocyst. It does not
separate and form a postlarva.
Ecology - Most of the known hosts occur in inshore
habitats. Spanish mackerels may become infected when
they feed inshore.
Location in Host - Encapsulated in the wall of the
stomach or intestine and in the outer layer of the liver,
ovary and other internal organs. Occasionally capsules are
deeply embedded in the liver.
Length - Plerocercus 4.4-6.4 mm, blastocyst 25.0-94.0
mm, capsule 3.0-10.5 mm. The length of the blastocyst
varied considerably, but the plerocercus is approximately
the same size in the longest and shortest blastocysts.
Host Specificity – The
occurrence of the plerocercus of this parasite in 3 of
the 4 species of western Atlantic Spanish mackerels
and no other big game fishes is apparently only a
coincidence.
Grillotia erinaceus (Van Beneden)
This parasite is encapsuled in inshore fishes and
occasionally big game fishes. Superinfections have
been reported and might injure Atlantic mackerel.
Name - Rhynchobothrium imparispine Linton is a
synonym. Grillotia sp. Nikolaeva, 1962 may be a
synonym.
Diagnostic Characters - The capsule is oval or
teardrop shaped and may be attached on a stalk.
Capsules sometimes occur in clusters. Younger
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