Seasonal Incidence of Ecto-Parasites in Catfishes of District Indore Madhya Pradesh, India

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of monogenean helminth ecto-parasitic infections on catfishes (C. batrachus and C. gariepinus) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. A total number of 453 fish samples of Clarias batrachus and Clarias gariepinus were collected consisting of 236 Clarias batrachus (143 males and 93 females) and 217 Clarias gariepinus (117 males and 100 females) a total of 217 specimens were examined for the period of two years. Results indicated presence of three species of parasites, Gyrodactylus sp., Dactylogyrus sp. and Lernea. Overall prevalence of 47.88% and Mean Intensity of 1.65% was recorded. In Clarias gariepinus, overall prevalence of 41.93% and Mean Intensity of 1.26% was recorded while in Clarias gariepinus overall prevalence of 41.93% and Mean Intensity of 1.26% was recorded. Females were found more infested than males. However, in Clarias batrachus, the prevalence was found higher than Clarias gariepinus. The results indicated that fishes are suffering ecto-parasitic infections on account of high pollution levels in the water bodies. Thus, need of hour is to reduce aquatic pollution to reduce parasitic infestations.

Baba Tabasum*1 and Rajesh Dixit2 Click here to download file

Research Article | Published online : 25-Jan-2021