Bucephalidae is a family of

trematode Trematoda is a Class (biology), class of flatworms known as trematodes, and commonly as flukes. They are obligate parasite, obligate Endoparasites, internal parasites with a complex biological life cycle, life cycle requiring at least two Host ( ...

s that

parasitize Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ento ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

. They lack suckers, having instead a muscular organ called a "rhynchus" at the front end which they use to attach to their hosts. The characteristics of the rhynchus are used to help define the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

of the family.Hassanine, R. M. E. (2002)
On three digenean trematodes (Family Bucephalidae) from marine teleost fishes with new record from the Red Sea.
''Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries'', 6(3), 1–16. It is one of the largest digenean families, with 25 genera containing hundreds of described species.Muñoz, G. & Bott, N. J. (2011)
A new species of ''Prosorhynchoides'' (Trematoda, Bucephalidae) from the intertidal rocky zone of central Chile.
''Acta Parasitologica'', 56(2), 140–146. Bucephalids are

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

, having been recorded all over the world. They are parasites of fish from

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

, marine, and

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

water habitat types. The name ''Bucephalus'', meaning "ox head", was originally applied to the genus ''

Bucephalus Bucephalus (; ; – June 326 BC) or Bucephalas, was the horse of Alexander the Great, and one of the most famous horses of classical antiquity. According to the '' Alexander Romance'' (1.15), the name "Bucephalus" literally means "ox-h ...

'' because of the horn-like appearance of the forked tail (furcae) of its cercaria

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

. By what Manter calls a "curious circumstance", horns are also suggested by the long tentacles of adult worms.Manter, H. W. (1940). Digenetic trematodes of fishes from the Galapagos Islands and the neighboring Pacific. ''Reports on the Collections Obtained by the Allan Hancock Pacific Expeditions of Valero III off the Coast of Mexico, Central America, South America, and Galapagos Islands in 1932, in 1933, in 1934, in 1935, in 1936, in 1937, and in 1938'', 2(14), 329–496. These flatworms typically occur in

teleost Teleostei (; Ancient Greek, Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts (), is, by far, the largest group of ray-finned fishes (class Actinopterygii), with 96% of all neontology, extant species of f ...

fishes as sexually reproducing adults. In their intermediate hosts, which include

mollusks Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The num ...

and at least one

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

, they occur as asexually reproducing stages. The characteristic feature is an anterior rhyncus or holdfast that is separate from the digestive system. They also differ from other digeneans in the configuration of the digestive systems and genitalia.Gibson, D, Arlene, J. & Bray, R. (2002). ''Keys to the Trematoda, Volume 1''. London: CAB International and The Natural History Museum. The intestine is simple and saccular; they have no acetabulum. The spermatozoa of adult bucephalids has been studied by transmission electron microscopy in several species belonging to the Bucephalinae and Prosorhynchinae, but, in the absence of data on the three other subfamilies, these studies could not provide information on the phylogenetic relationships within the family. Parasite180130-Figure 6 - spermatozoa of Bucephalidae

Parasite180130-Figure 6 - spermatozoa of Bucephalidae

Genera

The genera are organised by their subfamilies. *Bucephalinae Poche, 1907 **'' Alcicornis'' MacCallum, 1917 **''

'' von Baer, 1827 **'' Glandulorhynchus'' Thatcher, 1999 **'' Parabucephalopsis'' Tang & Tang, 1976 **'' Prosorhynchoides'' Dollfus, 1929 **'' Pseudobucephalopsis'' Long & Lee, 1964 **'' Pseudorhipidocotyle'' Wang & Pan in Long & Lee, 1964 **''

Rhipidocotyle Bucephalidae is a family of trematodes that parasitize fish. They lack suckers, having instead a muscular organ called a "rhynchus" at the front end which they use to attach to their hosts. The characteristics of the rhynchus are used to help d ...

'' Diesing, 1858 **'' Rhipidocotyloides'' Long & Lee, 1964 **'' Roparhynchus'' Gupta & Kumari, 1978 *Dolichoenterinae Yamaguti, 1958 **''

Dolichoenterum Bucephalidae is a family of trematodes that parasitize fish. They lack suckers, having instead a muscular organ called a "rhynchus" at the front end which they use to attach to their hosts. The characteristics of the rhynchus are used to help d ...

'' Ozaki, 1924 **'' Grammatorcynicola'' Bott & Cribb, 2005 **'' Pseudodolichoenterum'' Yamaguti, 1971 *Heterobucephalopsinae Nolan, Curran, Miller, Cutmore, Cantacessi & Cribb, 2015 **'' Heterobucephalopsis'' Gu & Shen, 1983 *Paurorhynchinae Dickerman, 1954 **'' Bellumcorpus'' Kohn, 1962 **'' Paurorhynchus'' Dickerman, 1954 **'' Rhoporhynchus'' Wang, 1995 *Prosorhynchinae Nicoll, 1914 **'' Dollfustrema'' Eckmann, 1934 **'' Muraenicola'' Nolan & Cribb, 2010 **'' Myorhynchus'' Durio & Manter, 1968 **'' Neidhartia'' Nagaty, 1937 **'' Neoprosorhynchus'' Dayal, 1948 **'' Prosorhynchus'' Odhner, 1905 **'' Pseudoprosorhynchus'' Yamaguti, 1938 **'' Telorhynchus'' Crowcroft, 1947

References

Trematode families Plagiorchiida Trematodes parasiting fish Taxa named by Franz Poche {{trematoda-stub