Cymothoa bychowskyi Avdeev, 1979

(Fig. 1 j–l)

Cymothoa bychowskyi Avdeev, 1979a: 230, pl. 6, 7; 1985: 217, fig. 1.— Trilles, 1994: 138.—Williams, Bunkley-Williams & Pitlik, 2000: 157.— Kensley, 2001: 232.— Bruce, Lew Ton & Poore, 2002: 174.—Paulay, Kropp, Ng & Eldredge, 2003: 479.— Trilles & Bariche, 2006: 228.— Rameshkumar, Ravichandran, Sivasubramanian & Trilles, 2013d: 42, fig. 1c.— Martin, Bruce & Nowak, 2016: 6.

Type and type locality. The holotype Cymothoa bychowskyi, held at Russian Pacific Federal Fisheries Research Institute, Vladivostok (TINRO АGK 75011) from northwestern Australia, red cornetfish Fistularia petimba Lacépède, 1803 .

Material examined. 1 ovig. female (27 mm), Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, 20 April 2011, from Strongylura leiura (Bleeker, 1850), coll. G. Rameshkumar (CAS / MBRM C- 87).

Reamarks. Cymothoa bychowskyi can be identified by the body 2.4 times as long as wide; pereonite 1 with broad anterolateral margins reaching half the length of cephalon; coxae 2–4 posteroventral margins rounded, coxae 5–7 posteroventral margins project laterally in dorsal view; pleonites subequal in length, pereonite 7 posterolateral margin extending to pleonite 4; pleotelson posterior margin rounded; uropods not extending beyond posterior margin of the pleotelson and pleopod 2 of female holotype with an appendix masculine.

Avdeev (1979a) originally described C. bychowskyi from Australia and included information on the male specimen. Avdeev (1979a) made a comparison to C. parupenei Avdeev, 1979a and also mentioned the deposition of the paratypes at TINRO (AGK 75012–75021). Cymothoa bychowskyi is currently known to parasitise only the red cornetfish, Fistularia petimba and occurs in a small geographical range. This species has only been collected least and would require more collections for a more informative analysis.

Cymothoa bychowskyi has high host specificity and the infrequent reports would suggest low occurrence. Rameshkumar et al. (2013) reported 7.9% prevalence (3 of 38 hosts) of the species from Agatti Island, Lakshadweep, southeastern India.

Distribution. Northwestern and Western Australia, precise locality not given (Avdeev 1979a; Kensley 2001). Also reported from Guam, Micronesia (Williams et al. 2000), Okinawa, Japan (Williams et al. 2000), Lakshadweep and India (Rameshkumar et al. 2013).

Hosts. Known only from family Fistulariidae: Fistularia petimba, Lacepède, 1803, (see Avdeev 1979a; Williams et al. 2000; Rameshkumar et al. 2013d) and bluespotted cornetfish Fistularia commersonii Rüppell, 1838 (Williams et al. 2000).