Revised Annotated List of Parasites from Sea Mammals 

 Caught Off the West Coast of North America 



By 



L. MARGOLIS 



Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Biological Station 

 Nanaimo, B.C., Canada 



and 



M. D. DAILEY 



Department of Biology 



California State College at Long Beach 



Long Beach, California 90801 



ABSTRACT 



Parasite-host and host-parasite lists, with supporting references, of the ecto- and 

 endoparasites recorded from marine mammals of the North American west coast are 

 provided. Excluding records in which the parasites have not been identified to the spe- 

 cies level, there are known 15 trematodes, 3 cestodes, 10 nematodes, 7 acanthocephalans, 

 1 copepod, and 10 amphipods from 22 species of Cetacea; 8 trematodes, 10 cestodes, 12 

 nematodes, 8 acanthocephalans, 5 anoplurans, and 5 acarines from 8 species of Pinni- 

 pedia; and 4 trematodes, 2 cestodes, 1 nematode, 3 acanthocephalans, and 1 acarine from 

 a single species of Carnivora. 



Previously unpublished records which are included here are: Anisakis simplex 

 from Phocoenoides dalli and Orcinus orca, British Columbia; Cyamus balaenopterae 

 from Balaenoptera musculus, California; Cyamus erraticus from Balaena glacialis, 

 Alaska; Cyamus scammoni from Eschrichtius gibbosus, Alaska; Antarctophthirus 

 trichechi from Odobenus rosmarus, Alaska. 



INTRODUCTION 



In 1954, Margolis (1954a) published a list 

 of parasites reported from marine mammals 

 caught in waters off western North America 

 (Bering Strait to Mexico). This list was com- 

 piled from the literature up to July 15, 1953. 

 During the 17 years since the preparation of 

 the first list there has been a marked increase 

 in the interest in marine mammals, both as 

 objects of research and for display purposes. 

 The numbers of animals necropsied and par- 

 asites recovered has grown rapidly. It was 

 considered worthwhile to bring this list up to 

 date in order to facilitate future work in this 



area as well as furnish a current list of par- 

 asites to nonparasitologists working with ma- 

 rine mammals. 



The revised list is restricted to organisms 

 generally considered to be true parasites. Ex- 

 cluded are the nematode Odontobius ceti 

 Roussel de Vauzeme, 1834 and the copepod 

 Balaenophilus unisetus Aurivillius, 1879, which 

 live on the baleen plates of whales and are best 

 described as commensals; the barnacles, which 

 have a phoretic relationship with whales; and 

 the lamprey, which is often regarded as a pred- 

 ator rather than a temporary parasite. 



As in the original list, we have included par- 

 asites reported from Steller and California sea 



