First record of sea lice Lepeophtheirus curtus (Copepoda, Caligidae) in sea-farmed Epinephelus marginatus (Serranidae) in Brazil

(With 1 figure)The family Caligidae, mainly Caligus and Lepeophtheirus species are widespread sea lice copepods that parasitize body surface, cavity of the mouth, the gills, and the operculum of teleosts and elasmobranchs ( Ho et al., 2001 ). These parasites erode fishes epithelium leading secondary bacterial infections (Sanches et al., 2012). The sea lice of the family Caligidae are one of the most major health pathogens for farmed fish. In the Northern Hemisphere the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Kroyer, 1838) alone is responsible for commercial losses in excess of € 180 million in salmonid aquaculture ( Costello, 2009 ).The dusky grouper ( Epinephelus marginatus ) (Lowe, 1834) is a Serranidae protogynous hermaphrodite species with great ecological importance. It is being commercially cultured because the high market demand has led to indiscriminate fishing resulting in the depletion of the natural stocks to an alarming level ( Sanches et al., 2009 ). Despite the considerable progress in fish parasitology in recent decades, there are still major gaps in knowledge of taxonomy, biology, epizootiology and parasites control ( Roumbedakis et al., 2013 ). This study record the first occurrence of Lepeophtheirus curtus in dusky grouper farmed in Brazil.Specimens of copepods were collected from twelve farmed Ephinephelus marginatus (wet weight 6.2 ± 0.2 kg) that were kept in concrete tanks, capacity 80 m