Identification of Blood Flukes Infecting Tiger Puffer Takifugu rubripes

Blood flukes infecting tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes were re-examined taxonomically. Psettarium sp. TPC Ogawa et a/., 2007, Psettarium sp. TPJ Ogawa et al., 2007 and P. japonicum sensu Yamaguti, 1938 were analysed, together with the type specimens of P. sinense (Liu, 1997), originally recorded in Takifugu oblongus as Paradeontacylix sinensis Liu, 1997. Psettarium sp. TPC, represented by blood flukes from T. rubripes cultured in Dailian, China and those collected from T. rubripes imported from China and cultured in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan in 2005, were synonymized with P. sinense. Psettarium sp. TPJ, collected in 1993 from T. rubripes caught in Wakasa Bay, Fukui Prefecture and maintained in a cage for several months, was different from the congeners in the combination of having a large body size (larger than 7 mm long), a single testis extending posterior to the ovary, presence of anterior and posterior vasa deferentia, and is described here as P. wakasaense n. sp. A single museum specimen of P. japonicum sensu Yamaguti, 1938 collected from T. rubripes off Shanghai was morphologically distinguishable from most similar P. sinense in the dextral ovary, the female pore opening anterior to the cirrus pouch and absence of the testis on dextral side of the ovary, and is proposed here as P. yamagutii n. sp.