The next in our week of "All American" parasites is Cardicola nonamo, a bloodfluke, which is a species of digenetic trematode that infects the hearts of two species of seaperches - the white seaperch and the (I love this name) rubberlip seaperch - off the coast of California. Despite the fact that this species was only described this year, the type specimens were collected back in 1936 and 1980. Ash Bullard, the scientist from Auburn University, who published the paper, named the species after a conglomeration of the names of the three people who had first collected it: Nobel; Nahhas; and Moser. Image comes from the original species description.
Well done Ash!
ReplyDeleteDear Susan, Thank you for selecting this humble little worm for the spotlight. Fuad Nahhas (now deceased) handed down the holotype to me after I met him at ASP several years ago. Although I regret that I was unable to co-author the description with him as I had promised, it's a special worm to me because Fuad shared it with me, and it was humbling to be considered worthy of receiving it from him. A number on the "greatest hits" of ASP.
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