THE LIFE HISTORY OF EPIBDELLA MELLENI MACCALLUM 1927, A MONOGENETIC TREMATODE PARASITIC ON MARINE FISHES

Abstract

The description of the adult is corrected and extended, and the complete life history of the parasite is described. The morphology of the larva, including the excretory pattern, is described and the general outline traced of the development of larva into adult. This process is direct. In the posterior sucker are 14 larval or accessory hooks; there is a seminal receptacle within the ovary. These features seem to confirm Fuhrmann''s separation of the suborder Monopisthocotylinea into the 2 suborders, Monopisthocotylinea and Monopisthodiscinea. Studies were made at the New York Aquarium. All fish in the Aquarium were exposed equally to attack by E. melleni, but infestation was limited to certain families of Acan-thopteri.