Occurrence of Hysterothylacium and Anisakis nematodes (Ascaridida: Ascaridoidea) in the tanaka’s snailfish Liparis tanakae (Gilbert & Burke) (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae)

The tanaka’s snailfish Liparis tanakae (Gilbert & Burke) (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) is an economically important marine fish species in China. However, the helminth parasites of this fish are still poorly known. During a helminthological survey of Chinese marine fishes from 2011 to 2012, we revealed that L. tanakae was heavily infected with third-stage larvae and adults of ascaridoid nematodes (total prevalence 100 % and mean intensity 82.3 nematodes per fish). Four species of third-stage larvae Hysterothylacium liparis Li, Xu & Zhang, 2007, H. aduncum (Rudolphi, 1802), Hysterothylacium fabri (Rudolphi, 1819), and Anisakis pegreffii (Campana-Rouget & Biocca, 1955) and a single species of adults H. liparis were differentiated and identified by morphological and molecular methods. The detailed morphology of the four species of third-stage larvae was also studied using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The morphological and molecular characterization of the third-stage larvae of H. liparis was reported. Liparis tanakae represents a new host record for A. pegreffii and H. fabri. In addition, a new name, Hysterothylacium zhoushanense nom. nov. was also given to Hysterothylacium zhoushanensis Li, Liu & Zhang, 2012 to make the latinized specific epithet agree with this neuter generic name.