TL;DR: With the exception of a handful of ambiguous records, the evidence is compelling that the host-specificity of species in this genus is overwhelmingly oioxenous or stenoxenous, which renders the host distribution in three orders and ten families especially difficult to explain as many seemingly suitable hosts are not infected.
Abstract: We review species of the genus Lepotrema Ozaki, 1932 from marine fishes in the Indo-West Pacific. Prior to the present study six species were recognised. Here we propose eight new species on the basis of combined morphological and molecular analysis: Lepotrema acanthochromidis n. sp. ex Acanthochromis polyacanthus from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR); Lepotrema hemitaurichthydis n. sp. ex Hemitaurichthys polylepis and H. thompsoni from Palau and French Polynesia; Lepotrema melichthydis n. sp. ex Melichthys vidua from Palau and the GBR; Lepotrema amansis n. sp. ex Amanses scopas from the GBR; Lepotrema cirripectis n. sp. ex Cirripectes filamentosus, C. chelomatus and C. stigmaticus from the GBR; Lepotrema justinei n. sp. ex Sufflamen fraenatum from New Caledonia; Lepotrema moretonense n. sp. ex Prionurus microlepidotus, P. maculatus and Selenotoca multifasciata from Moreton Bay; and Lepotrema amblyglyphidodonis n. sp. ex Amblyglyphidodon curacao and Amphipron akyndynos from the GBR. We also report new host records and provide novel molecular data for two known species: Lepotrema adlardi Bray, Cribb & Barker, 1993 and Lepotrema monile Bray & Cribb, 1998. Two new combinations are formed, Lepotrema cylindricum (Wang, 1989) n. comb. (for Preptetos cylindricus) and Lepotrema navodonis (Shen, 1986) n. comb. (for Lepocreadium navodoni). With the exception of a handful of ambiguous records, the evidence is compelling that the host-specificity of species in this genus is overwhelmingly oioxenous or stenoxenous. This renders the host distribution in three orders and ten families especially difficult to explain as many seemingly suitable hosts are not infected. Multi-loci molecular data (ITS2 rDNA, 28S rDNA and cox1 mtDNA) demonstrate that Lepotrema is a good generic concept, but limited variability in sequence data and differences in phylogenies produced for different gene regions make relationships within the genus difficult to define.
TL;DR: The first comprehensive list of 318 coastal fish species recorded from the Islas Marias Archipelago, Mexico, was compiled from recent fieldwork, archival museum collections, and literature references.
Abstract: 5 Corresponding author Abstract The first comprehensive list of 318 coastal fish species recorded from the Islas Marias Archipelago, Mexico, was compiled from recent fieldwork, archival museum collections, and literature references. The jacks (Carangidae, 18 species) and the labrisomid blennies (Labrisomidae, 16) were the most speciose families. Most recorded species occur throughout the trop- ical eastern Pacific (160 species), while a significant proportion have wider ranges in the eastern Pacific (39), eastern Pa- cific and Indo-Pacific (39), eastern Pacific and Atlantic (3), or are circumtropical (39) in distribution. Three species occur in the Northeast Pacific, twenty-five are endemic to the Pacific coasts of Mexico, five are endemic to the Gulf of Califor- nia, and three are endemic to Islas Marias. Cephalopholis panamensis (Epinephelidae), Epinephelus labriformis (Epi- nephelidae), Mulloidichthys dentatus (Mullidae), Stegastes flavilatus (Pomacentridae), Acanthurus xanthopterus (Acanthuridae), Pseudobalistes naufragium (Tetraodontidae), and Sufflamen verres (Tetraodontidae) were the dominant conspicuous species observed during underwater surveys in 2010. The absence or low abundance of commercially valu- able shark, ray, and grouper species throughout the archipelago is discussed.
TL;DR: The lepocreadiid fauna of New Caledonia is reported and discussed and a new species and several new host and locality records presented.
Abstract: The lepocreadiid fauna of New Caledonia is reported and discussed and a new species and several new host and locality records presented. Hypoporus plataxi sp. nov. from Platax teira is described and distinguished from its only congener by its terminal genitalia, the structure of the anterior part of the alimentary system and other morphological features. New host and locality records and a description are given of Lepotrema cf. clavatum Ozaki, 1932 in Sufflamen fraenatum. New host and locality records are given of Lobatocreadium exiguum (Manter, 1963) in Pseudobalistes fuscus, which is also reported in the known hosts Abalistes filamentosus and Sufflamen fraenatum. New host and locality records are given of Opisthogonoporus amadai Yamaguti, 1937 in Branchiostegus wardi. A new host record is made for Holorchis plectorhynchi Durio et Manter, 1968 in Diagramma pictum. New records in New Caledonian waters are of Bulbocirrus aulostomiYamaguti, 1965 in Aulostomus chinensis, Echeneidocoelium indicum Simha et Pershad, 1964 in Echeneis naucrates, Lepidapedoides kalikali Yamaguti, 1970 in Pristipomoides auricilla, Neomultitestis aspidogastriformis Bray et Cribb, 2003 in Platax teira, Opechona bacillaris (Molin, 1859) in Rastrelliger kanagurta, Prodistomum keyam Bray et Cribb, 1996 in Monodactylus argenteus and Pseudopisthogonoporus vitellosus (Pritchard, 1963) in Naso brevirostris and N. annulatus. New metrical data are presented for Holorchis castex Bray et Justine, 2007 in Diagramma pictum, Hypocreadium patellareYamaguti, 1938 in Sufflamen fraenatum, Intusatrium robustum Durio et Manter, 1968 in Bodianus loxozonus and B. perditio and Lepidapedoides angustus Bray, Cribb et Barker, 1996 in Epinephelus chlorostigma, E. fasciatus, E. maculatus and E. retouti. Literature records are included and the fauna in general discussed.
TL;DR: The reproductive biology of the masked triggerfish Sufflamen fraenatus was studied and it was found that the fish appeared to attain maturity at 166-170mm in total length and had a diameter range of 2 - 42 m.d. and indicated multiple modes.
Abstract: The reproductive biology of the masked triggerfish Sufflamen fraenatus was studied. Three distinct stages, viz. immature, maturing and mature were identified based on the external appearance of the ovary and the ova diameter studies. The fish appeared to attain maturity at 166-170mm in total length. In the mature stage, the ova had a diameter range of 2 - 42 m.d. and indicated multiple modes. The species showed a prolonged breeding season with peak during September and March/April. The fecundity varied from 404 and 3,41,516 in fishes of total length (TL) 264 mm and 272 mm respectively.