New host and ocean records for the copepod Ommatokoita elongata (Siphonostomatoida : Lernaeopodidae), a parasite of the eyes of sleeper sharks

Seven of 8 Pacific sleeper sharks (Somniosus pacificus Big elow and Schroed er, 1944) captured in Prince William Sound, Alaska, were actively infected, and all 8 had been at one time infected with the parasitic copepod Ommatok oita elongata (Grant, 1827) (Siphonostomatoida: Lernaeopodidae). Active inf ections consisted of adult females and chalimus larvae that had attached to the corneas of the sharks' eyes. This report documents a new host record a nd possibly the only reliable record of this parasite from a host other tha n the Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801). It also documents the first time O. elongata has been identified outside o f the Atlantic Ocean or its locally adjacent straits and seas.