Cardiodectes bellottii
Cardiodectes bellottii is a species of copepods in the family Pennellidae.[1] It is a parasite of fish.[3] It is found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea; specimens from the Pacific were formerly treated as a separate species, Cardiodectes medusaeus.[3]
| Cardiodectes bellottii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Copepoda |
| Order: | Siphonostomatoida |
| Family: | Pennellidae |
| Genus: | Cardiodectes |
| Species: | C. bellottii |
| Binomial name | |
| Cardiodectes bellottii (Richiardi, 1882) | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
In the cnidarian Hydrichthys sarcotretis, parasitism is taken a stage further when the hydrozoan attaches itself to the C. bellottii. This is itself an ectoparasite of the northern lampfish (Stenobrachius leucopsarus) in the family Myctophidae. The copepod attaches itself to the bulbus arteriosus of the fish. Such a parasitic chain is known as hyperparasitism.[4] C. bellottii requires two hosts for proper development. It will go through five successive postembryonic stages, then only the post-mating females will go into the pericardial cavity of a lanternfish.[5] The actions of the copepod castrate its fish host. Both male and female fish do not reproduce and seem to grow faster when attacked by the copepod and it seems to have a negligible energy demand from them.[6] The hydrozoan parasite castrates the copepod, a process called hypercastration.[4]
References
- Walter TC, Boxshall G, eds. (2021). "Cardiodectes bellottii (Richiardi, 1882)". World of Copepods database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- Wilson, Charles Branch (1908). "North American parasitic copepods: A list of those found upon the fishes of the Pacific coast, with descriptions of new genera and species". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 35 (1652): 431–481. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.35-1652.431.
- Hogans, W. E. (2017). "Cardiodectes medusaeus (Copepoda: Pennellidae) a synonym of Cardiodectes bellottii, a parasite of mid-water fishes in the North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 130 (1): 250–255. doi:10.2988/17-00019. S2CID 89975409.
- Bush, Albert O. (2001). Parasitism: the diversity and ecology of animal parasites. p. 285. ISBN 978-0-521-66447-9.
- Perkins, Penny (1985). "Iron crystals in the attachment organ of the erythrophagous copepod Cardiodectes medusaeus (Pennellidae)". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 5 (4): 591–605. doi:10.2307/1548237. JSTOR 1548237.
- Moser, Mike; Taylor, Sam (1978). "Effects of the copepod Cardiodectes medusaeus on the lanternfish Stenobrachius leucopsarus with notes on hypercastration by the hydroid Hydrichthys sp". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 56 (11): 2372–6. doi:10.1139/z78-321.