Specimen image via iDigBio · BY
Microcotyle
Sign in to saveMicrocotyle is a genus which belongs to the phylum Platyhelminthes and class Monogenea. Species of Microcotyle are ectoparasites that affect their host by attaching themselves as larvae on the gills of the fish and grow into adult stage. This larval stage is called oncomiracidium, and is characterized as free swimming and ciliated.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumPlatyhelminthes
- ClassMonogenea
- OrderMazocraeidea
- FamilyMicrocotylidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 121
- With media
- 9
- Family
- Microcotylidae
- Collections
- CAS, USNM
- Recorded in
- Mexico, United States, Puerto Rico
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Morphology
- Life cycle
- Treatment
- Species
- References
Microcotyle is a genus which belongs to the phylum Platyhelminthes and class Monogenea. Species of Microcotyle are ectoparasites that affect their host by attaching themselves as larvae on the gills of the fish and grow into adult stage. This larval stage is called oncomiracidium, and is characterized as free swimming and ciliated.
Species of Microcotyle have only one host in their entire life cycle. Different species of Microcotyle inhabit marine and freshwater and they can also infect different species of fishes. They are uniquely characterized by their haptor having a lot of tiny clamps on the lateral margins.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Microcotyle” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.