Article
Life history told by a whale‑louse: a possible interaction of a southern right whale Eubalaena australis calf with humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae
Registro en:
IWASA-ARAI, Tammy; et al. Life history told by a whale‑louse: a possible interaction of a southern right whale Eubalaena australis calf with humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae. Helgol Mar Res., v.71:6, 6p, 2017.
1438-387X
10.1186/s10152-017-0486-y
1438-3888
Autor
Iwasa-Arai, Tammy
Siciliano, Salvatore
Serejo, Cristiana S.
Rodriguez-Rey, Ghennie T.
Resumen
Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) are known to host three species of whale-lice, Cyamus gracilis, Cyamus ovalis and Cyamus erraticus. Such cyamids usually are generalists in toothed whales (Cetacea: Odontoceti) and hostspecific in baleen whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti), and because they have no free-swimming stage, transmission only
occurs by contact between whales. One southern right whale stranded at the southeastern coast of Brazil was found
parasitized by a different species of cyamid. Over 300 specimens were collected and the only species identified based
on morphological and molecular data was Cyamus boopis, a typical ectoparasite of humpback whales (Megaptera
novaeangliae). This finding is the first record of C. boopis on the southern right whale. Both E. australis and M. novaeangliae
are found in Brazilian waters and the presence of humpback’s whale-louse together with the lack of the three
specific parasites of right whales suggest an interspecific interaction between these whales based on the parasite’s
biology. 2030-01-01