The discovery of Lepeophtheirus lichiae Barnard, 1948 (Copepoda: Caligidae) parasitic on leerfish, Lichia amia (Linnaeus) in the Mediterranean Sea.

Lepeophtheirus lichiae Barnard, 1948 (Copepoda: Caligidae), a very rare and poorly known sea louse, is redescribed based on a single newly collected female. The specimen was collected from the dorsal body surface of the leerfish, Lichia amia (Linnaeus) caught in north-eastern Mediterranean waters off the Turkish coast. The original and only available description of L. lichiae was incomplete and with only three illustrations: the dorsal view of the female habitus, the sternal furca, and the postantennal process. Here, we present a full re-description of female of L. lichiae and report it from the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.