Arthur, J.R. & M. Shariff. (2015). Checklist of the parasites of fishes of Malaysia. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press. 374 pp.

347685

Arthur, J.R. & M. Shariff

2015

374 pp.

Publication

The 2015 Checklist of the Parasites of Fishes of Malaysia by Richard Arthur and Mohamed Shariff is a welcomed addition to fisheries libraries everywhere, and follows similar publications on fish parasites of the Philippines, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Incentive for producing these regional lists arises from the basic needs of an expanding aquaculture industry and the increasing intra- and interregional movement of cultured and wild fishes and invertebrates, and potential pathogens, throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The parasite-host list uses a standard layout that includes official scientific name, mention of junior synonyms, location on or in the host, geographical distribution (by Malaysian state), habitat type (freshwater, brackish or marine), mention of useful taxonomic trip-ups that one should be aware of if following up a specific identification, and relevant notes on life cycles and zoonotic potential. The host-parasite lists provide a summary of all reports of parasites by host species, which includes both endemic and introduced species to the region. The literature cited is meticulous in accuracy and includes all reports from 1902 to 2013. As summarized by the authors, the parasites listed include 425 nominal species: Protista – 18, Myxozoa – 22, Digenea – 39, Monogenoidea – 207, Cestoda – 72, Nematoda – 24, Acanthacephala – 4, Hirudinida – 1, Brachiura – 4, Copepoda – 26, Isopoda – 6 and Pentastomida – 2. Additional records of unidentified parasites are included. The host fishes include representatives of major lineages within the Elasmobranchii and the commercially important Actinopterygii in fresh and marine waters. Regional parasite checklists like this one are typically the first resource reached for when one is faced with a parasite that needs identifying, and as such are invaluable tools for taxonomists, fish health diagnosticians and government regulators, all brands of fish parasite ecologists, and for theoreticians who digitize the data to test hypotheses on the evolution and biogeography of parasites and their hosts. Proof of the sustained usefulness of such check-lists is reflected in the physical state of copies in bookshelves in front of me, ones opened and closed and fingered through so much over the past 40 years they are giving up – tattered and torn with bent corners, round stains throughout, and dislodged pages on the verge of being mistakenly lost. 66 Asian Fisheries Science 29 (2016):65-66 This new Checklist of the Parasites of Fishes of Malaysia should be prepared for lots of use, given that only a small proportion of the fishes of Malaysia (196 of more than 1900 fish species) have been examined so far for parasites.

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