**Epipellis oiketis** (Bacillariophyta) on harbor porpsoises from the North Sea Channel (Belgium)

Abstract: Epipellis oiketis Holmes, an obligate epizoic diatom living on cetaceans, was found in skin samples of harbor porpoises from Belgian coastal waters. Previously this species was recorded exclusively from porpoises and from tooth and baleen whales in the northern Pacifi c. We present additional information on the morphology of this diatom and comment on its geographic distribution. Both host dispersal before geographic separation and interspecifi c transfer may explain its occurrence in the northern part of both oceans. Our observations further corroborate the suggestion that cetacean... Mehr ...