Study of helminth parasites from wild and cultured Mystus gulio in selected districts of West Bengal, India

Abstract

The study was conducted to collect and identify different parasites of Mystus gulio to determine the prevalence of helminths infestation in terms of month, seasons and length groups of fishes from different districts of West Bengal. The isolated parasites were Monogeneans, Digeneans, Cestodes, Nematodes and Acanthocephalans. The most dominant parasites in M. gulio were Acanthocephalans mainly observed in monsoon season. The larger length groups fishes were found to be more infected with parasites compared to smaller length groups. Three Acanthocephalans species including Pallisentis sp., Raosentis podderi and Acathogyrus sp. were found in host fish. Morphometric measurements of these three acanthocephalans parasites were observed during the study. Two way ANOVA was done to determine the significance of differences in Parasitic Frequency Index (PFI).