Nematodes and Acanthocephalans of Fishes from the Euphrates River at Al-Musaib City, Mid Iraq
Due to the importance of the nematodes and acanthocephalans in fish life and as no previous work was done on both nematodes and acanthocephalans of fishes of Euphrates River at Al-Musaib city, mid Iraq, the present study was undertaken. A total of 472 fish specimens belonging to 24 species were inspected for parasites during the period from July 2006 till the end of June 2007. All fish specimens were externally examined for ectoparasites and then were dissected out to reveal any internal parasites in their body cavity, musculature and internal organs. Four nematode species and two acanthocephalan species were recorded from the intestine of 12 species of these fishes. These nematodes were Contracaecum spp. from nine fish species (Alburnus orontis, Arabibarbus grypus, Carasobarbus luteus, Coptodon zillii, Leuciscus vorax, Luciobarbus xanthopterus, Mastacembelus mastacembelus, Mystus pelusius and Silurus triostegus), Camallanus lacustris from three fish species (A. orontis, Glyptothorax steindachneri and M. pelusius), Philometra sp. from Alburnus sellal and Rhabdochona denudata from both A. grypus and L. xanthopterus. The acanthocephalans included both Neoechinorhynchus iraqensis and Paulisentis fractus from Liza abu. All these worms were adults except for Contracaecum spp. which occurred as a larval stage (third stage larva). In addition, seven new host records in Iraq were reported for four species of these nematodes. Number of fish hosts reported for these worms fluctuated from one host in case of three worm species to a maximum of nine hosts in case of Contracaecum spp. Among the inspected fishes, number of worm species fluctuated from a minimum of one worm species in seven fish species to a maximum of two worm species in case of five fish species, while 12 fish species showed no any worm infection.
Nematoda, Acanthocephala, Freshwater Fishes, Euphrates River, Al-Musaib City, Babylon Province, Iraq
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