Description of Sandythoa gen. nov., a fish parasitic branchial cymothoid (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothoidae) from the Indian Ocean, with five species including one new species.

The comparative analysis of records of Elthusa samariscii (Shiino, 1951) from Japan and India, alongside corresponding illustrations, indicates that the records of E. samariscii from Samaris cristatus Gray in India represent a distinct and previously undescribed species. This study introduces Sandythoa tiranga gen. and sp. nov., providing comprehensive descriptions of various lifecycle stages, including the female, male, transitional, premanca, and manca larvae. The following combinations of characters identify the genus: cephalon anterior margin with acute rostrum; pleonite 1 is distinctly narrow, not extending laterally; presence of a narrow gap between pleonites; antenna with more than 10 articles; maxilliped with oostegital lobe. Sandythoa tiranga sp. nov. is specifically identified along the southwest coast of India. Furthermore, we propose transferring the following species from Elthusa: Sandythoa arnoglossi (Trilles and Justine 2006) comb. nov.; Sandythoa parabothi (Trilles and Justine, 2004) comb. nov.; Sandythoa samariscii (Shiino, 1951) comb. nov.; Sandythoa moritakii (Saito and Yamauchi, 2016) comb. nov. A revised key to the global marine branchial cymothoid genera is provided.

The venom proteome of three common scyphozoan jellyfishes (Chrysaora caliparea, Cyanea nozakii and Lychnorhiza malayensis) (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from the coastal waters of India.

The jellyfish venom stored in nematocysts contains highly toxic compounds comprising of polypeptides, enzymes and other proteins, which form their chemical defence armoury against predators. We have characterized the proteome of crude venom extract from three bloom-forming scyphozoan jellyfish along the south-west coast of India, Chrysaora caliparea, Cyanea nozakii and Lychnorhiza malayensis using a Quadrupole-Time of Flight (Q/TOF) mass spectrometry analysis. The most abundant toxin identified from Chrysaora caliparea and Lychnorhiza malayensis is similar to the pore-forming toxins and metalloproteinases. A protective antioxidant enzyme called peroxiredoxin was found abundantly in Cyanea nozakii. Metalloproteinase identified from the C. caliparea shows similarity with the venom of pit viper (Bothrops pauloensis), while that of L. malayensis was similar to the venom of snakes such as the Bothrops insularis and Bothrops asper. Kininogen-1 is a secreted protein, identified for the first time from the jellyfish L. malayensis. The proteome analysis of Cyanea nozakii, Chrysaora caliparea and Lychnorhiza malayensis contained 20, 12, 8 unique proteins, respectively. Our study characterized the proteome map of crude venom extract from L. malayensis and C. caliparea for the first time, and the venom profile is compared with published information elsewhere. Proteomic data from this study has been made available in the public domain.