440 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



1932c) was examining for parasites he observed 

 three species of free-swimming copepods, one 

 species to a "host." These cannot be regarded 

 as other than accidental guests. Again, two 

 of the genera and perhaps all three species were 

 first records for the Gulf. 



Other than King's (1950) very recent prelim- 

 inary report, little seems to have been done on 

 the free-swimming forms since publication of 

 Pearse's papers. Marsh (1910) remarks that 

 Foster told him he had collected C aequoreus in 

 Lake Pontchartrain and connecting waters and 

 adds, "It seems likely that further collections in 

 brackish waters will show that this is not an 

 uncommon form." Foster seems not to have 

 recorded his observation in print. Davis (1948) 

 netted a marine, a brackish water, and a more or 

 less fresh water type of copepod in Long Lake, 

 Dade County, which is connected with Garfield 

 Bight, a shallow arm of Florida Bay, by a narrow 

 and devious passage 4 miles long. The waters 

 of the lake are distinctly brackish and even in 

 periods of greatest rainfall are believed never to 

 become completely fresh. The brackish water 

 species, Pseudodiaptomus coronatus, had earlier 

 been reported by Wright (1936) from the mouth of 

 the Mississippi (Grand Pass and Point Chicot) 

 from which the following year he described P. 

 americanus. Mississippi Sound to the eastward is 

 the type locality for Herrick's (1884, 1887, 1895) 

 P. pelagicus which, because of its inadequate 

 description, is conceivably identical with P. 

 coronatus according to Wright (1937). The marine 

 species proved to be new, while the fresh water 

 form, if it is correctly one, was described as a 

 variety of Cyclops panamensis. A newly described 

 species, Corycaeus americanus, was added to the 

 fauna by M. Wilson (1949) in part on the basis of 

 material secured in a haul made off [Port] Aransas, 

 Texas. Although the former United States Bureau 

 of Fisheries steamer Albatross made one tow net 

 haul in the Gulf of Mexico in 1885, the fact that 

 it added 5 genera, 11 species of marine copepods 

 to the list of those occurring in that body of water 

 did not become known until C. Wilson (1950) 

 reported on the Albatross collections. 



Summarizing the foregoing information, one 

 can safely say that close to a hundred free- 

 swimming copepods, representative of some 70 

 genera, have to date been taken in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and in brackish waters adjacent thereto. 



These, however, are believed to be but a small 

 fraction of the species that an intensive Gulf-wide 

 investigation would reveal. 



Though less important economically parasitic 

 copepods from the Gulf of Mexico came to the 

 attention of naturalists at a much earlier date 

 than the free-swimming forms, no doubt because 

 of their association primarilj- with fish, their gen- 

 erally larger size, and the ease with which they 

 can be collected. Perhaps the first to be recorded 

 from the area was Argulus funduli described by 

 Kr0yer (1863) from New Orleans and recorded 

 again by Bere (1936) from Lemon Bay, west coast 

 of Florida, and Meehean (1940) from near New 

 Orleans aad from a brackish pool at Meveitta, 

 Florida. For the greater part the species para- 

 sitizing Gulf fishes have been described principally 

 by Bere and Meehean, just referred to, and, above 

 all, by C. B. Wilson in a series of papers from 1902 

 through 1944. In all, just about 122 species have 

 beea reported from the Gulf after making allow- 

 ance for duplications: Bere, 70 species; Meehean, 

 3 or 4 (without salinity readings, it is not always 

 possible to determine whether the water in many 

 localities in Florida may be wholly fresh or brack- 

 ish) ; and C. B. Wilson, 48 (mostly in his Tor- 

 tugas paper of 1935). Though not yet found on 

 fish caught in the Gulf of Mexico, the 25 species 

 of parasitic copepods which Wilson (1913) listed 

 for Jamaican fish, not yet reported from the Gulf, 

 will probably be found to occur there because the 

 host species are common to both areas. 



Of equal scientific interest are the parasitic cope- 

 pods which infest the gills of Crustacea and, in 

 one instance (Pestifer agilis Wilson, 1949), were 

 found attached to the skin of an undetermined 

 marine annelid dredged in 380 fathoms south of 

 the Dry Tortugas. There are three species of 

 these parasites of decapod Crustacea in the Gulf 

 of Mexico: Cancrincola jamaicensis, originally de- 

 scribed from the white land crab in Jamaica 

 (Wilson 1913) and found later at Tortugas in the 

 spider crab, Microphrys bicornutus, and the hermit, 

 Paguristes puncticeps (Pearse 1932a; Wilson 1935) ; 

 Cancrincola plumipes Humes (1941) described from 

 adult marsh crabs, Sesarma reticulatum, at Grand 

 Isle, Louisiana; and Clausidium, tenax Humes 

 (1949), also from Grand Isle from the mud shrimp, 

 Callianassa islagrande. 



This brief resume of the work that has been 

 done in striving for a better understanding and a 



