On four species of echinorhynchid acanthocephalans from marine fish in Halong Bay, Vietnam, including the description of three new species and a key to the species of Gorgorhynchus

Abstract

Four species of echinorhynchid acanthocephalans were collected from marine fish off Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay, Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam, in the spring of 2009. Acanthocephalus halongensis n. sp. (Echinorhynchidae) from the redtail scad, Decapterus kurroides Bleeker 1855 (Carangidae), has a unique proboscis armature with a spiniform basal hook with lateral root and an incomplete receptacle wall posteriorly. Gorgorhynchus tonkinensis n. sp. (Rhadinorhynchidae) also from D. kurroides, has long, slender, winding lemnisci, many epidermal nuclei, and a narrow anterior trunk with a shoulder armed with 20 circles of tightly packed spines, the posterior four circles of which have abruptly larger spines than those in the anterior circles. Neorhadinorhynchus atypicalis n. sp. (Cavisomidae) from the rabbitfish, Siganus fuscescens (Houttuyn 1782) (Siganidae), has the largest number of proboscis hooks per row, testes wider than long, and four clustered cement glands. Micracanthorhynchica kuwaitensis Amin and Sey 1996 (Rhadinorhynchidae) from the spottail needlefish Strongylura strongylura (van Hasselt 1823) (Belonidae) was similar to specimens originally described from the Arabian Gulf off the Kuwaiti coast. These acanthocephalans were collected in small numbers but stood out as uniquely and considerably different from their closest relatives to warrant their reporting. All species of acanthocephalans and their host and geographic distribution are described, and a key to the species of Gorgorhynchus is provided.