Occurrence of pedunculate barnacles of the symbiotic genus octolasmis (cirripedia: Crustacea) in two species of edible crabs

In the present study,5356 octolasmids hosted by two portunus crabs,potunus pelagicus and p. sanguinolentus,they belong to five species; namely octolasmis angulata (aurivillius,1894),o. cor (aurivillius,1894),o. lowei (darwin,1851),o. tridens (aurivillius,1894) and o. warwickii gray,1825. the rate of infestation was found markedly low in p. pelagicus (2.9 %) and p. sanguinolentus (10.8 %) during present investigation. octolasmids prevalence was significantly higher in female p. pelagicus (81.2%) than that of male (18.8%) while in case of p. sanguinolentus the prevalence was significantly higher in male (60.5%) rather than female (39.5%). copyright 2017 zoological society of pakistan.