Philichthys xiphiae (Copepoda; Philichthyidae) - an interesting cranium parasite of the swordfish Xiphias gladius collected from the Baltic Sea

The swordfish, Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758, is a fish that sporadically enters the Baltic Sea. The present paper describes the identification of a very rarely recorded and poorly studied copepod of the family Philichthyidae - Philichthys xiphiae Steenstrup, 1862 - in a dead swordfish found on a sea beach in Dzwirzyno (Poland) in 2016. Philichthyidae are parasites inhabiting the sensory canals in the lateral line and skull bones of marine fish. In the present case, two P. xiphiae females were found, which constitutes the first record of the species in the Baltic area.

Automated summary

This paper describes the identification of a rarely recorded and poorly studied copepod species, Philichthys xiphiae, parasitizing in a dead swordfish found in the Baltic Sea. Two females of P. xiphiae were discovered in this case, marking the species' first record in the Baltic Sea area.