Title
First report of an egg-predator nemertean worm in crabs from the south-eastern Pacific coast: Carcinonemertes camanchaco sp. nov
Date Issued
01 December 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universidad de Antofagasta
Publisher(s)
Nature Research
Abstract
Nemertean worms belonging to the genus Carcinonemertes have been tied to the collapse of crab fisheries in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. A new species is described from egg masses of two commercial crabs, Cancer porteri and Romaleon setosum, inhabiting the central-north Chilean coast. This is the first species of Carcinonemertes described from the southeastern Pacific Ocean. Total body length of Carcinonemertes camanchaco sp. nov. ranged from 2.38 to 4.93 and from 4.29 to 8.92 mm, in males and females, respectively. Among others, traits that distinguish this new species from other previously described congeneric species include: presence of two gonad rows on each side of the intestine, a simple (not decorated) mucus sheath, and a relatively wide stylet basis. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference phylogenetic analyses distinguished this new species from all other species of Carcinonemertes with available cox1 sequences in GenBank. Prevalence and mean (± SD) intensity of C. camanchaco sp. nov. was 24% and 2.6 (± 2.07) worms per egg mass in C. porteri and 38.1% and 3.8 (± 2.4) worms per egg mass in R. setosum. The formal description of this new species represents the first step towards the understanding of this worm's impact on the health of crab fisheries in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
Volume
11
Issue
1
Number
20215
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Biología marina, Biología de agua dulce, Limnología
Ecología
Conservación de la Biodiversidad
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85117277564
PubMed ID
Source
Scientific Reports
ISSN of the container
20452322
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus