/ 046-015

Nerocila japonica (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitic on a Japanese seabass, Lateolabrax japonicus (Lateolabracidae), from the Pacific coast of central Japan, with a review of the geographical distribution of the isopod in Japan and East Asia

Kazuya Nagasawa and Atsushi Tawa

Abstract / Introduction / Summary:

An ovigerous female of Nerocila japonica Schioedte and Meinert, 1881, was found to parasitize the pectoral fin of a Japanese seabass, Lateolabrax japonicus (Cuvier, 1828), caught on the Pacific coast of Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan. This represents the third record of N. japonica from the Pacific coast of central Japan. This paper also reviews the geographical distribution of N. japonica in East Asia including Japan and reveals that the species occurs in coastal tropical to temperate waters in this region and its distribution along the coast of Japan is strongly affected by a warm current, the Kuroshio and its branch, the Tsushima Current.