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Cymothoidae

{{Short description|Family of crustaceans}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Chopa (Spondyliosoma cantharus) con un parásito (Anilocra physodes), Parque natural de la Arrábida, Portugal, 2022-07-22, DD 75.jpg

| image_caption = Anilocra physodes on a black seabream Spondyliosoma cantharus

| taxon = Cymothoidae

| authority = Leach, 1818 

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = c. 40; see text

}}

The Cymothoidae are a family of isopods in the suborder Cymothoida found in both marine and freshwater environments. Cymoithoids are ectoparasites, usually of fish, and they include the bizarre "tongue-biter" (Cymothoa exigua), which attaches to a fish's tongue, causing it to atrophy, and replaces the tongue with its own body.{{cite journal |author1=R. C. Brusca |author2=M. R. Gilligan |year=1983 |title=Tongue replacement in a marine fish (Lutjanus guttatus) by a parasitic isopod (Crustacea: Isopoda) |journal=Copeia |volume=1983 |pages=813–816 |doi=10.2307/1444352 |issue=3 |jstor=1444352}} Ceratothoa oestroides is one of the most devastating ectoparasites in Mediterranean aquaculture. Around 40 genera and more than 380 species of cymothoid are recognised.{{cite web |url=http://bioteaching.com/tongue-biters-and-deep-sea-giants-the-cymothoida-crustacea-isopoda/ |title=Tongue Biters and Deep Sea Giants: The Cymothoida (Crustacea: Isopoda) |author=Srour, Marc |date=2012-07-13 |work=Teaching Biology |access-date=2014-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606205614/http://bioteaching.com/tongue-biters-and-deep-sea-giants-the-cymothoida-crustacea-isopoda/ |archive-date=2014-06-06 |url-status=dead }} Species of the Cymothoidae are generally found in warmer waters and rarely in the cool

and cold climates.{{cite journal |last1=Brusca |first1=Richard C. |title=A monograph on the Isopoda Cymothoidae (Crustacea) of the eastern Pacific |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |date=1981 |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=117–199 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1981.tb01592.x}}

Characteristics

Cymothoids exhibit various adaptations to their parasitic lifestyles.{{cite journal|last1=van der Wal|first1=Serita|last2=Haug|first2=Joachim T.|title=Shape of attachment structures in parasitic isopodan crustaceans: the influence of attachment site and ontogeny|journal=PeerJ|volume=8|year=2020|pages=e9181|issn=2167-8359| pmid=32596034|doi=10.7717/peerj.9181|pmc=7306222 |doi-access=free}} {{open access}} As juveniles, they are not specific in their requirements, and attach themselves temporarily to the skin of any fish. They produce anticoagulants and suck the fish's blood. They detach from their first host and later find another host. When they have found the correct species of fish for their adult development, they attach more permanently. As adults, most species require a particular host species, and are also site-specific. Locations for attachment chosen by different species of parasite include the skin, fins, gills, and mouth, while some species bore into muscle.

Biology

Cymothoids are protandrous hermaphrodites; each juvenile develops first into a male, but if no females are nearby, the male later becomes a female and attaches permanently to the host. This female is able to secrete pheromones that prevent male cymothoids in the vicinity from becoming female. These parasites can cause serious damage to their hosts, ranging from slow growth rate, through tissue damage and anaemia, to death. Many host fish have mutualistic arrangements with certain shrimps such as Ancylomenes pedersoni, whereby the fish visits a "cleaning station" and the shrimps remove and feed on the cymothoid parasites.{{cite journal |author1=Bunkley-Williams, Lucy |author2=Williams, Ernest H. Jr. |year=1998 |title=Ability of Pederson Cleaner Shrimp to Remove Juveniles of the Parasitic Cymothoid Isopod, Anilocra haemuli, from the Host |journal=Crustaceana |volume=71 |issue=8 |pages=862–869 |jstor=20106067 |doi=10.1163/156854098x00888

}}

Classification

According to the World Register of Marine Species, the family contains these genera:{{cite WoRMS |author=Niel L. Bruce & Marilyn Schotte |year=2011 |title=Cymothoidae |db=Isopod |id=118274 |access-date=December 9, 2011}}

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Image:Anilocra gigantea on Pristipomoides filamentosus.tif|Anilocra gigantea on Pristipomoides filamentosus.tif

Image:Spicara flexuosa + Anilocra.jpg|Anilocra sp.

Image:Cymothoa exigua parassita Lithognathus mormyrus.JPG|Cymothoa exigua, lingual parasite

Image:Mothocya sajori.JPG|Mothocya sajori

Image:Synodus synodus.jpg|Nerocila armata

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite journal|last1=Nagler|first1=Christina|last2=Haug|first2=Joachim T.|title=Functional morphology of parasitic isopods: understanding morphological adaptations of attachment and feeding structures in Nerocila as a pre-requisite for reconstructing the evolution of Cymothoidae|journal=PeerJ|volume=4|year=2016|pages=e2188|issn=2167-8359|doi=10.7717/peerj.2188|pmid=27441121|pmc=4941765 |doi-access=free }} {{open access}}

External links

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  • {{Wikispecies-inline}}

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Category:Cymothoida

Category:Isopod families