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New distribution and host record for the starfish parasite Dendrogaster (Crustacea: Ascothoracida)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Jean-François Hamel  and
Annie Mercier
Jean-François Hamel
Affiliation:
Département d'Océanographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Centre Océanographique de Rimouski, 310 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, Québec, G5L 3A1, Canada
Annie Mercier
Affiliation:
Département d'Océanographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Centre Océanographique de Rimouski, 310 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, Québec, G5L 3A1, Canada
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Abstract

This work presents the description of an intracoelomic parasite of the genus Dendrogaster (Crustacea: Ascothoracida), the largest ever reported, collected for the first time from the starfish Hippasteria phrygiana in the deep waters of the St Lawrence Estuary (eastern Canada). The parasite bears a close resemblance to only one previously described species, D. arbusculus from the west American coast, suggesting a bicoastal and possibly circumpolar distribution. Female growth is concurrent with embryo development and the parasite may have a negative impact on host starfish densities through gonad atrophy. This research also demystifies the old and persistent description of a supposed parasite in H. phrygiana 70 years ago, Laocoön paradoxus, and finally concludes that this parasite never existed and in fact represents the water vascular system found in all starfish.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , May 1994 , pp. 419 - 425
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1994

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