Lernaeid copepods parasitic on flying fish

Abstract

Species of the genus Pennella are of interest because they parasitize widely different hosts such as cetacea, flying fish, pipe fishes, sword fishes, etc. In 1917 Wilson listed fourteen valid species and nine more have been added since. Of these P. exocoeti (Holten) and P. blainvilli (Le Sueur) have been recorded as parasites of flying fishes, the former probably in Exocoetus speculiger from which Leigh-Sharpe (1928) and Deboutteville & Nunes-Ruivote (1954) recorded the species, while the latter was found on E. volitans. The present paper deals with four parasites collected from four different species of flying fishes of Madras. The types will be deposited in the Indian museum, Calcutta.