Prevalence of the Parasitic Copepod Haemobaphes intermedius on Juvenile Buffalo Sculpins from Washington State

The parasitic copepod, Haemobaphes intermedius, was detected in 62% of juvenile buffalo sculpins Enophrys bison, a previously unreported host, from the San Juan Islands archipelago in Washington State. Most infestations were characterized by the presence of a single female copepod infestations with multiple H. intermedius occurred either unilaterally or bilaterally in 29% of parasitized individuals. Impaired condition of parasitized hosts was indicated by significantly lower total lengths and weights (34.9 mm; 1.6 g) than in unparasitized cohorts (38.9 mm; 2.1 g). Host specificity was indicated by the failure to detect H. intermedius in 43 sympatric great sculpins Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus from the same location.