Morphology, DNA barcoding and seasonal occurrence of Ergasilus lizae Krøyer, 1863 (Copepoda: Ergasilidae) parasitizing mullets from northwestern Mexico.

ABSTRACT

Ergasilus lizae Krøyer, 1863 is a parasitic copepod known to infect mullets (Mugilidae) in different parts of the world. It was originally reported from the east coast of North America, but the original description lacks enough detail, making identification with this information difficult. In this study, we provide a redescription of E. lizae found on Mugil curema Valenciennes and M. cephalus Linnaeus, caught in two coastal lagoons of northwestern Mexico during two climatic seasons warm/rainy and cold/dry. The prevalence of this parasite was higher in the warm season than in the cold season. To facilitate the species identification, new sequences of the barcoding gene (COI mtDNA) of E. lizae were generated and compared against unpublished sequences of E. lizae available in the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD). Our results suggest that the sequences of BOLD possibly belong to a species misidentified as E. lizae.