A fish body condition index was calculated twice for each individual fish, including or excluding parasite mass from fish body mass, and index values were compared to test the effects of parasite mass on measurement of body condition. Potential correlations between parasite load and the two alternative fish condition index values were tested to assess how parasite mass may influence the percept...

Despite increasingly sophisticated microbiological techniques, and long after the first discovery of microbes, basic knowledge is still lacking to fully appreciate the ecological importance of microbial parasites in fish. This is likely due to the nature of their habitats as many species of fish suffer from living beneath turbid water away from easy recording. However, fishes represent key ecos...

Parasitism is a ubiquitous phenomenon that is probably as old as heterotrophic organisms themselves. It is one of the major types of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species. The development of the biological sciences brought about a broader definition of parasitism. By the end of the nineteenth century, it was known that parasites thrive at the expense of their hosts and u...

A total of 128 spiny eels Mastacembelus mastacembelus (Mastacembelidae) were collected from theGreater Zab river at Iski Kalak town, west of Erbil city, Kurdistan region, Iraq, from July 2007 to the end ofJune 2008. The fish were examined for ecto and endo parasites. The study revealed the existence of 16species of parasites (with a total prevalence of 89.06%) including: two species of protozoa...

Mucus secreted onto the surface of the intestine forms a physical barrier to invading parasites so that a possible attachment of helminths to the surface is prevented and their expulsion by peristalsis facilitated. In mammals, intestinal parasites induce hyperplasia and hypertrophy of intestine goblet cells and provoke changes in the mucus composition. In fish, this topic has received less atte...

A multitude of parasites have been reported in fish, but only a few species are capable of infecting humans. The most important of the helminths acquired by humans from fish are the anisakid nematodes (particularly Anisakis simplex and Pseudoterranova decipiens), cestodes of the genus Diphyllobothrium and digenetic trematodes of the families Heterophyidae, Opisthorchiidae and Nanophyetidae. Sea...

We studied gill parasites of Prochilodus lineatus in the San Javier River, which is connected to the Middle Paraná System (Santa Fe, Argentina). In 25 specimens, the parasite prevalence in branchial organs was 92% and the average intensity was 8.3 parasites/infested fish. The parasite community showed no dominance of any taxon, but the family Dactylogyridae represented 60% of the community. We ...

We studied gill parasites of Prochilodus lineatus in the San Javier River, which is connected to the Middle Paraná System (Santa Fe, Argentina). In 25 specimens, the parasite prevalence in branchial organs was 92% and the average intensity was 8.3 parasites/infested fish. The parasite community showed no dominance of any taxon, but the family Dactylogyridae represented 60% of the community. We ...