The seasonal incidence of parasitic helminth infection among the walking catfish, Clarias batrachus of Tripura, India

In the present study, a total of 868 walking catfish, Clarias batrachus, were collected during the period of April, 2012 to March, 2015, to evaluate the prevalence of helminth parasites from different parts of Tripura, Northeast India. Of these, 606 fish were found to be infected with one genus of trematode viz., Astiotrema, two genera of cestode viz., Lytocestus and Djombangia and one genus of nematode parasite viz., Anisakis. Of the three groups of parasites recovered, the major group infecting the host were found to be cestodes, followed by nematodes and trematodes. Seasonal studies show that the overall prevalence of the collected helminth parasites was highest during the postmonsoon season, followed by the monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons.