Abstract
Endoparasitic copepods are very numerous in Indo-West Pacific corals. In West Indian corals they were thought to be absent, but recent studies have shown that a varied endoparasitic copepod fauna exists as well. Striking is the taxonomic composition of the coral-inhabiting copepods:
In the Indo-West Pacific Lichomolgidae and Xarifiidae are the dominant families, both are absent in the West Indies. On the other hand, Corallovexiidae and Asterocheridae dominate in the West Indies; the former family is absent and the latter is apparently rare and not very diversified in the Indo-West Pacific.
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Stock, J.H. Copepods associated with reef corals: a comparison between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Hydrobiologia 167, 545–547 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026350
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026350