Molecular mechanism of site-specificity of Caligus fugu on fins of puffer fish

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(1) The life cycle and developmental stages of some parasitic copepods have been newly revealed by the present investigation. The number of post-naupliar stages of caligids is evidently six. Reinfection of adults is implied in some caligids. The whole life cycle of a pennelid Peniculus minuticaudae infecting fins of filefish is totally disclosed: the hatching stage is copepodids; no host switching is found. It is likely that fish fins are feasibly infected by infective stages of parasitic copepods but so limited for fecundity of adult females. (2) Results of bioassay indicate that attractants for the infective copepodid of Caligus fugu is water-soluble. At least 10 genes coding secretory proteins or enzymes were obtained by suppression subtractive hybridization, which was applied to isolate genes expressed higher in fins compared to skin. These are likely to be candidate genes related to the attachment site-specificity of the infective stage.