THE PREVALENCE OF LERNAEID ECTOPARASITES IN GRASS CARP (CTENOPHARYNGODON
IDELLA)
Z. TASAWAR, S. ZAFAR, M. H. LASHARI AND C. S. HAYAT1
Institute of Pure and Applied Biology,
BahauddinZakariyaUniversity,
Multan;
1Faculty
of Veterinary Sciences, BahauddinZakariyaUniversity,
Multan,
Pakistan
Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of lernaeid
ectoparasites in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon
idella).For this purpose, 597
fishes (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
were examined for lernaeid ectoparasites at a private fish farm located in
Multan,
Pakistan.
Four species of the genus Lernaea
i.e. L. cyprinacea, L. polymorpha,
L. oryzophila, and L. lophiara
were recorded.It was observed that
L. polymorpha had the highest (P<0.05) overall prevalence (7.54%), followed
by L. cyprinacea (6.53%), Learnaea
species which were not identified (2.18%),
L. oryzophila and
L. lophiara (0.67% each).The relationship between body weight and
Lernaea infestation showed that the
infection of Lernaea species was
significantly (P<0.05) more prevalent in the weight group of 2501-4500g, while
the parasites were not found in the weight groups of 4500-6500 and 6501-8500g.Relationship between body length and
Lernaea species in fish was also
calculated. According to these results, the
Lernaea species had significantly
(P<0.05) highest prevalence in length group of 9-14 cm and lowest in length
groups of 15-20 and >20 cm.
Key words:
Prevalence, body length, body weight, C.
idella,lernaeid parasites.