A new species of Trichodina (Ciliophora: Peritrichia) from the intestine of the surgeonfish Acanthurus xanthopterus.

ABSTRACT

A population of a trichodinid (Ciliophora Peritrichia) was found in the gut of the surgeonfish Acanthurus xanthopterus collected from Hawaii, South Africa and New Guinea and described as a new species. This is only the second record of a trichodinid from the intestine of a marine fish. In all the fish specimens examined, the micro-fauna normally found in other species of the fish family. Acanthuridae was absent and replaced entirely by the trichodinid population.