Population dynamics of parasites as an evaluation metric to assess the trophic quality of fresh water bodies: A case study showing relationship of infection level of helminths in Schizothorax spp. of River Sindh, Kashmir

Abstract

Parasites show a high degree of specialization, and reproduce at a faster rate than their hosts. The parasitic worms form the major portion of biodiversity on earth. Fish harbour a variety of parasites viz., Protozoans, cestodes, trematodes and acanthocephalans and the degree of damage by infection is influenced to a large extent by the type and numbers of parasites present. Present study considers the influence of tropical status of three different study sites of river sindh on the pattern of helminth infection in Schizothorax spp. from September 2011 to July 2012. Three study sites used for the collection of the samples include Mammar, Shallabugh and Shadipora. The fish specimens examined include S. niger, S. plagiostomus, S. labiatus, and S. esocinus. Our results showed that highest Prevalence and mean intensity of infection was at Shadipora followed by Shallabugh (Ghat) and least was found in Mammar. Sex was not an important factor influencing the helminth infection in different study sites. Considering the second parameter it was found that length showed significant positive correlation (P