Abstract:
Parasitic crustaceans of Lernanthropus latis were isolated from the host, Lates
calcarifer, obtained from a cage culture in Setiu Wetland, Terengganu. The
morphology of the parasite was described with the aid of Scanning Electron
Microscope (SEM). A study of life cycle of L. latis were also implemented under
laboratory condition in which description for each larval developmental stage was
conducted with the aid of illustration and SEM. Adult females of L. latis with eggs
were kept alive in vials containing 20mL of filtered seawater within 27ppt of
salinity and incubated at 30
o
C. The eggs were monitored every hour and the hatching
periods were recorded. Three developmental stages were observed, namely, nauplii I,
nauplii II, and infective copepodid. The infective copepodids were then transferred
into a tank containing 60L of seawater with 150 seabass fingerlings for infection
purpose. One fish was sacrificed every 24 hour to inspect the next developmental stage. As a result, six more stages were obtained within 298 hrs starting from the
first day of infection. The stages were known as fixed copepodid I, II, III and IV,
preadult, and adult. Parasitic L. latis takes 483 hrs period to complete a life cycle at
o
30
C of temperature and 27ppt of salinity.
