Molecular phylogeny, prevalence and intensity adhesion of ectosymbiotic epibiont, Chelonibia barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Chelonibiidae) on the blue crab, Portonus segnis from Persian Gulf.

This study investigated the molecular phylogeny, prevalence, and intensity of infestation by symbiotic barnacle, Chelonibia genus, occurring on blue crab, P. segnis, from the Persian Gulf. More than 237 individual crabs were collected for analysis. Two molecular markers (28S rRNA and COI mtDNA) were applied for species delineation. Two species, Chelonibia patula, and Chelonibia testudinaria, were the first records for both host and location. Female crabs showed higher intensity of infestation with barnacles than the males (p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between host size and epibiont abundance (p < 0.05), thus the barnacles infested a higher proportion of larger hosts. The results indicate that prevalence of infestation was very severe for C. patula and severe for C. testudinaria. Ovigerous female crabs were the most suitable hosts for barnacles. The molecular taxonomy of the ectosymbiotic crustaceans was confirmed based on sequence similarity and phylogenetic analyses. Based on COI mtDNA topology, C. testudinaria/C. patula from the present study have a sister clade with C. patula, C. testudinaria, C. manati, and C. ceratta from coasts of Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Southern China, Florida, and Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]