| Family: |
Hemiuridae () |
| Max. size: |
0.225 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
| Environment: |
pelagic; marine |
| Distribution: |
Western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. |
| Diagnosis: |
Highly variable; minuscule to large, elongate fluke with the oral and ventral suckers close together. Oral sucker: Less than 1/2 to 2/3 the diameter of the ventral sucker. Tail: More than 1/3 to more than 1/2 of the total body length. Deep striations (cuticular denticulations): occur on the sides of body. The egg filled uterus extends into the tail and often 1/2 way down the tail. The intestinal ceca extend to the end of the tail. The winding vitellaria extend from the posterior body into the tail (Ref. 359). |
| Biology: |
Length: 0.02 to 0.225 cm (Ref. 359). The superinfections we found in the Caribbean have not been recorded elsewhere. Possibly, infections are more severe and damaging to dolphin in the Caribbean than in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic coasts of North and South America. A very heavy infection of 250 flukes was reported in a dolphin from India. Associations: found 5 to 2805 worms in 13 dolphin from off La Parguera. Hundreds of other parasites occurred with this parasite, but none showed any correlation with the numbers of this worm. Host Specificity: a characteristic parasite of dolphin and probably pompano dolphin. It appears to prefer dolphins to scombrids by having higher numbers and occurring in greater frequency. Some records from scombrids may represent false hosts from dolphin prey and/or misidentifications of D. euthynniYamaguti or D. scombri. New host: Bar Jack. Damage to Host: Superinfections of this worm must damage and limit the growth of this commercially and recreationally valuable fish. Encysted metacercariae cause "black-spot disease" in herrings from Argentina (Ref. 359). |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. 123251)
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| Threat to humans: |
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| Country info: |
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