PARASITIC COPEPODS ON THE FISHES OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF, AUSTRALIA -PART I. CYCLOPOIDA-

Abstract

Since the parasitic copepod fauna of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia is still largely unknown, we were very interested in the material sent to us from this region by Dr. K. Rohde, while director of the Heron Island Research Station. The collection consists of 200 vials of copepods recovered from about 70 species of fish. The existing knowledge of the copepod parasites of fishes from the Great Barrier Reef is confined to the six species reported by Heegaard (1962) and nineteen species described by Kabata (1964, 1965a, 1965b, 1966a, 1966b, 1968a, 1968b). In this first part of our series dealing with the parasitic copepods of this region, new hosts and locality records are reported for two species: Orbitacolax hapalogenyos (Yamaguti & Yamasu) and Anchistrotos moa Lewis; and a new species of chondracanthid, which we propose to name Pseudacanthocanthopsis rohdeiJ is described. In addition, a female copepodid and a juvenile stage of P. rohdei are described together with a note on their metamorphosis. A map (Fig. 1), showing the Great Barrier Reef and its various islands from which most of the collections were made, is included. Eagle Island is not identified in the figure, but it is located near Lizard Island. All type-specimens have been deposited in the United States National Museum, Washington, D. C. We would like to thank Dr. K. Rohde for his kindness and generosity in placing his collection of copepod parasites at our disposal.