Vol 27 No 2 December - The Indian Society for Parasitology

Journal of Parasitic Diseases
Vol. 27 (2) Dec. 2003, pp. 124-125
On a new species of the genus Hexacanalis Perrenoud (1931)
from the spiral valve of Dicerobatis erregoodoo
HEMLATA WANKHEDE
University Department of Zoology, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University,
Aurangabad - 431 004
The present communication deals with a new species of the genus Hexacanalis Perrenoud (1931) vzi.
Hexacanalis govindi n.sp. collected from spiral valve of Dicerobatis eregoodoo. The species differ from all
other known species of the genus in having scolex oval, compressed on all sides, the testes are of medium size,
oval in shape, pre-ovarian 20 in numbers, cirrus pouch medium, short, oval, cirrus is coiled, ovary 'U'
shaped, compact, vagina is thin tube, the viteilaria are follicular in single row.
KEY WORDS : Cestode, Hexacanalis, Marine fish, Trygon
Short Communication
he genus Hexacanalis Perrenowd (1931) was
Trecorded by Southwell (1911) as
cephalobothrium with its type species C. abruptum
from Pteroplates micura and Dasybatus kuhli at
Ceylon (Trivandum coast) and he also reported
another species C.variabilis from Pristis cuspidatus
and Dasybatus kuhli at Ceylon. Perrenowd (1913)
synomysied these species and created a new genus
Hexacanalis with its type species H. abruptus and the
name H. variabilis was proposed for C. variabilis. He
recorded the genus from the same locality (Ceylon).
Shinde and Deshmukh (1979) reported two new
species i.e. H. zugei and H. Yamaguti from Trygon
zugei and Dicerobatis eregoodoo from Ratnagiri and
Hexacanalis govindi n.sp.
A - Scolex B - Mature Segment
Veraval (West coast of India) respectively. Shinde et al
(1982) added two new species i.e. H. trygoni and H.
ratnagirensis from Trygon zugei Later on Murlidhar
(1986) added one new species i.e. H. indraji from
Trygon sephen at Kakinada (A.P.) East coast of India.
Fifteen specimens of the cestode parasites were
obtained from the spiral valve of Dicerobatis
eregoodoo, at Veraval, Gujarat (West coast of India).
The worms were collected washed and fixed in 4%
formalin, stained with Harris haematoxylene,
dehydrated cleared in xylene, mounted in Canada
balsum. Drawings were made with the aid of Camera
lucida, identification was carried out with the help of
systema Helminthum Vol-II (Yamaguti, 1960) all
measurements are in millimeters.
Hexacanalis govindi n.sp.
Measurements in mm
Organs Length Width
Scolex 0.514 0.610
Sucker 0.270 0.145
Neck 0.329 0.164 to 0.106
Mature segment 0.853 0.388
Testes 0.106 to 0.062 0.062 to 0.485
Cirrus pouch 0.121 0.081
Cirrus 0.265 0.014
Vas deferens 0.101 0.009
Genital pore 0.043 0.019
Ovary 0.270 to 0.200 0.072 to 0.0029
Vagina 0.450 0.0009
Ootype 0.052 0.052
Vitellana 0.101 to 0.032 0.033 to 0.019