Abstract
This study examined Red Sea fishes at Hurghada and Safaga, Egypt, for the presence of trematodes of the superfamily Hemiuridae Looss, 1899. Merlucciotrema praeclarum Manter, 1934 was detected from Caesio lunaris (Perciformes: Caesionidae) and Cyatholecithochirium sp. from Epinephelus tauvina (Perciformes: Serranidae). Standard methods for collecting and examining marine fishes, for processing and illustrating specimens, and for studying the morphometric characteristics of the parasites by light microscopy and taxonomic identification were employed. For fine structure illustrating of Cyatholecithochirium sp. scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used. The main characteristics of the first species were similar to those of M. praeclarum, as the body being small and oval, and the ventral sucker being very large. In the middle of the body, the vitellarium consists of seven small lobed masses close to the ovary, and the excretory vesicle is Y-shaped and divided posterior to the ventral sucker, with the arms being united in the fore-body. The Cyatholecithochirium sp. matched the genus Cyatholecithochirium Yamaguti, 1970 in overall appearance; however, it differed from the previously described forms in the ventral sucker being located in the middle of the body, the seminal vesicle being globular and lying posterior to the ventral sucker near to the middle of the body, and the ovary lying close to the ecsoma. This paper is the first report of the trematode parasites Merlucciotrema praeclarum in Caesio lunaris and Cyatholecithochirium sp. in Epinephelus tauvina from the Red Sea in Egypt.