Larval trypanorhynch (Cestoda) infecting Euphausia americana (Euphausiacea) collected in the Mexican Caribbean Sea

Abstract

Euphausiids are marine pelagic crustaceans widely distributed in all latitudes and oceans of the world. They are parasitized by a wide spectrum of parasite species. Cestodes of the Order Trypanorhyncha are endoparasitic helminths that as adults exclusively parasitize elasmobranchs and use euphausiids, and other planktonic crustaceans, as paratenic or intermediate hosts. From a zooplankton sample collected in Banco Chinchorro, Mexican Caribbean Sea, at depth of 941.2 m, one male of Euphausia americana was infected with a plerocercoid with a blastocyst of a trypanorhynch larval cestode hosted in the cephalothorax, which was identified as Eutetrarhynchidae gen. sp. This is the first record of a trypanorhynch larval cestode in Euphausia americana and the first geographical report in the Caribbean coast of Mexico.