Some marine leeches and first record of Branchellion torpedinis Savigny, 1822 (Annelida, Hirudinea, Piscicolidae) from elasmobranchs in Turkish waters, with new host records

Abstract

Three species of marine leeches, Branchellion torpedinis Savigny, 1822, Pontobdella muricata (Linnaeus, 1758), and Stibarobdella moorei (Oka, 1910), were collected from Pteromylaeus bovinus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), Dasyatis pastinaca (Linnaeus, 1758), and Raja miraletus Linnaeus, 1758, respectively, captured during a cruise aboard the R/V “Akdeniz SU” from depths of 10, 75 and 125 m in Antalya Bay, on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Of these marine leeches, Branchellion torpedinis is recorded for the first time from Turkish waters on a new elasmobranch host, P. bovinus. In addition, R. miraletus is a new host record for Stibarobdella moorei, and Pontobdella muricata is recorded for the second time on its previously known host, D. pastinaca, from Antalya Bay.