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ABSTRACT
The carcass of an adult, male, Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris, Ziphiidae) was found floating close to the coasts of Corfu Island, Greece, in July 2016. Many tens of copepods of the genus Pennella had infested the whale. Barnacles identified as Conchoderma auritum (Cirripedia, Lepadidae) and green algae were attached to the base of both teeth. We took standard measurements of the barnacles and found a mean capitulum length of 12.88 mm (sd = 6.26 mm, n = 13). Although this barnacle has been reported on several marine mammals and has a cosmopolitan distribution, this is the first report of the species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Key words: rabbit-ear barnacle, parasite, Pennella, Cuvier's beaked whale, cetacean, Mediterranean
SINTESI
La carcassa di un maschio adulto di zifio (Ziphius cavirostris, Ziphiidae) e stata trovata galleggiante vicino alle coste dell'isola greca di Corfu nel luglio 2016. Decine di copepodi del genere Pennella avevano infestato la balena. Cirripedi identificati come Conchoderma auritum (Cirripedia, Lepadidae) e alghe verdi sono stati trovati fissati alla base di entrambi i denti. Gli autori hanno preso le misure standard dei cirripedi e stabilito una lunghezza, media del capitulum pari a 12,88 mm (sd = 6,26 mm, n = 13). Anche se questa specie di cirripedi e gia stata trovata su diversi mammiferi marini e ha una distribuzione cosmopolita, questa e il primo ritrovamento della specie nel Mediterraneo orientale.
Parole chiave: cirripedi, parassiti, Pennella, zifio, cetacei, Mediterraneo
INTRODUCTION
Several species of cetaceans are known to host sessile and stalked barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia) (Fertl & Newman, 2008). Stalked barnacles of the genus Conchoderma can be considered generalists, since they occur on both living organisms and inanimate objects, such as ship hulls (Davidson et al., 2009). Species of this genus have a highly reduced shell plate armature, which is correlated with an epibiotic mode of life (Anderson, 1993). The rabbit-ear barnacle Conchoderma auritum (Linnaeus, 1767) is one of the twenty living species of barnacles that use marine mammals as hosts (Newman & Ross, 1976). It is known to settle on slowly moving marine mammals (Aznar et al., 2005) and requires hard surfaces for attachment (Clarke, 1966). It can be found attached on exposed and unprotected teeth or even on malformed parts of the jaw...