Abstract / Introduction / Summary:
Ceratothoa verrucosa (Schioedte and Meinert, 1883) is a cymothoid isopod that primarily utilizes sparid fishes, notably red seabream Pagrus major (Temminck and Schlegel, 1843) and crimson seabream Evynnis tumifrons (Temminck and Schlegel, 1843) as its main hosts. Additionally, only a single record of the parasite infesting on cardinal seabream Evynnis cardinalis (Lacepède, 1802) has been reported from Ehime Prefecture. Here, a couple of an adult female and an adult male of this isopod was found in the buccal cavity of each E. tumifrons and E. cardinalis specimen. These fishes were commercially collected in Fukuoka and Saga Prefectures, where the parasite has not been previously recorded. Therefore, the present findings constitute the first documented occurrences of C. verrucosa in the prefectures, and the second instance of this species parasitizing E. cardinalis
