A New Species of Balaenophilus (Copepoda: Harpacticoida), an Ectoparasite of a Sea Turtle in Japan

Abstract

Balaenophilus umigamecolus n. sp., the second species known at present in the aberrant harpacticoid family Balaenophilidae, has been collected from the neck skin of a juvenile loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta in the aquarium of the Kushimoto Marine Park Center, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. This is the first record of copepods occurring on a sea turtle. This new species differs from Balaenophilus unisetus, which has been recorded only as an associated species on baleen plates of baleen whales, in its small size, the number of apical claws of leg 1, the setal arrangement of leg 4, and the length of the caudal rami. Gut contents indicate that the copepod scrapes the skin of the host sea turtle directly for food.