Efforts to find and characterise new parasite species in fish hosts are crucial not just to complete our inventory of Earth’s biodiversity, but also to monitor and mitigate disease threats in fisheries and aquaculture in the face of global climate change. Here, we review recent quantitative assessments of research efforts into fish parasite discovery and taxonomy. We address broad questions including: Are efforts aimed at finding new parasite species targeted at geographical hotspots of fish biodiversity, where there should be more parasite species to be found? Is the application of molecular tools to study parasite genetic diversity deployed strategically across regions of the world, or focused disproportionately on certain areas? How well coordinated is the search for new parasite species of fish among workers specialising on different higher helminth taxa? Are parasite discovery efforts in any geographical area consistent over time, or subject to idiosyncrasies due to the waxing and waning of highly prolific research careers? Is the quality of taxonomic descriptions of new species improving over time, with the incorporation of new tools to characterise species? Are taxonomic descriptions moving away from a focus on the adult stage only toward attempts to characterise the full life cycle of newly-discovered helminth species? By using empirical evidence to answer these questions, we assess the current state of research into fish parasite discovery and taxonomy. We also explore the far-reaching implications of recent research on parasite microbiomes for parasite taxonomy. We end with recommendations aimed at maximising the knowledge gained per fish sacrificed, and per dollar and time invested into research on fish parasite biodiversity.

在鱼类宿主中寻找和表征新的寄生虫物种的努力不仅对于完成我们地球生物多样性的清单至关重要，而且对于在全球气候变化面前监测和减轻渔业和水产养殖业的疾病威胁也至关重要。在这里，我们回顾了最近对鱼类寄生虫发现和分类学研究工作的定量评估。我们解决了广泛的问题，包括：是否努力寻找针对鱼类生物多样性地理热点的新寄生虫物种，在那里应该发现更多的寄生虫物种？是应用分子工具来研究寄生虫遗传多样性，战略性地部署在世界各地，或不成比例地专注于某些领域？在专门研究不同高等蠕虫类群的工人之间寻找新的鱼类寄生虫的协调程度如何？任何地理区域的寄生虫发现工作是否会随着时间的推移保持一致，或者由于高产的研究职业的兴衰而受到特质的影响？随着时间的推移，新物种的分类描述质量是否随着新工具的加入而改善？分类学描述是否从只关注成虫阶段转向试图表征新发现的蠕虫物种的整个生命周期？通过使用经验证据来回答这些问题，我们评估了鱼类寄生虫发现和分类学的研究现状。我们还探讨了近期寄生虫微生物组研究对寄生虫分类的深远影响。我们最后提出的建议旨在最大限度地提高每条牺牲的鱼以及在鱼类寄生虫生物多样性研究中投入的每一美元和时间所获得的知识。