The blacktailed spurdog (Squalus melanurus) is a dogfish, a member of the familySqualidae, found around New Caledonia in the central Pacific Ocean, at depths from 320 to 320 m. Its length is up to 75 cm.
The blacktailed spurdog has been seldom studied for parasites. The 1 mm-long monogeneanTriloculotrema chisholmae has been described in 2009 from three specimens found in the nasal tissue of a single shark caught off New Caledonia.[2]T. chisholmae was the second species described in the genusTriloculotrema Kearn, 1993 (family Monocotylidae).[3]
Species of Triloculotrema appear to be limited to deep-sea sharks, either triakids or squalids (possibly etmopterids).[2]
The blacktailed spurdog is also the host of external parasites such as the aegid isopodAega angustata on the skin.[4] Internal parasites include several trypanorhynchcestodes in the spiral intestine, such as Vittirhynchus squali and Gilquinia sp.[5]
^ abJustine, J.-L. 2009: A new species of Triloculotrema Kearn, 1993 (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from a deep-sea shark, the blacktailed spurdog Squalus melanurus (Squaliformes: Squalidae), off New Caledonia. Systematic Parasitology, 74, 59-63. doi:10.1007/s11230-009-9202-x
^Kearn, G. C. 1993: Triloculotrema japanicae n.g., n. sp. (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from the olfactory sacs of the Japanese topeshark Hemitriakis japanica (Müller & Henle, 1839) (Carcharhiniformes: Triakidae). Systematic Parasitology, 26, 53-57.
^Beveridge, I. & Justine, J.-L. 2006: Gilquiniid cestodes (Trypanorhyncha) from elasmobranch fishes off New Caledonia with descriptions of two new genera and a new species. Systematic Parasitology, 65, 235-249. doi:10.1007/s11230-006-9052-8
