Studies on prevalence of cestode parasites of freshwater fish, Channa punctatus

Abstract

The present investigation deals with the preliminary survey of three Piscean cestode parasites viz. Senga sp., Gangesia sp., Proteocephalus sp. collected from the intestine of a Channa punctatus at different collection sites of Nanded district (M.S.) India during June, 2013 to May, 2014. The high incidence of infection of all these species Senga sp., Gangesia sp., Proteocephalus sp. was recorded in summer season (76.66 %, 73.33 % & 70.00 % respectively) followed by winter season (65.21 %, 52.17% & 56.52% respectively) whereas infection was low in monsoon season (36.84%, 26.31% & 31.57% respectively). The results of present study clearly indicate that environmental factors and feeding habitat influence the seasonality of parasitic infection either directly or indirectly.