Crustaceans and Glochidians of Fishes from the Euphrates River at Al-Musaib City, Mid Iraq
Due to the importance of both the crustaceans and the glochidial larvae of bivalve molluscs in fish life as external parasites and as no previous work was done on both these two groups of parasites 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 crustacean species and glochidial larvae of one mollusc species were recorded from gills of 19 species of these fishes. The crustaceans were Ergasilus mosulensis from Glyptothorax steindachneri, E. peregrinus from three fish species (Carasobarbus luteus, G. steindachneri and Liza abu), E. sieboldi from L. abu and Lamproglena pulchella from Leuciscus vorax. The glochidial larvae belonged to the bivalve mollusc Unio pictorum which infected gills of 19 fish species (Alburnus caeruleus, A. orontis, A. sellal, Arabibarbus grypus, Barbus barbulus, C. luteus, Coptodon zillii, Cyprinion kais, C. macrostomum, Garra rufa, G. steindachneri, Heteropneustes fossilis, L. vorax, L. abu, Luciobarbus xanthopterus, Mastacembelus mastacembelus, Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi, Mystus pelusius and Silurus triostegus). All the crustaceans were adults but the mollusc U. pictorum occurred as a larval (glochidial) stage. In addition, 12 new host records in Iraq were reported for two crustacean species and the mollusc larva. Number of fish hosts reported for these ectoparasites fluctuated from one host in case of three crustacean species to a maximum of 19 hosts in case of U. pictorum. Among the inspected fishes, number of ectoparasitic species fluctuated from a minimum of one parasite species in 16 fish species to a maximum of three parasite species in case of both G. steindachneri and L. abu, while five fish species showed no any infection.
Crustacea, Glochidial Larva, Bivalve Mollusc, Freshwater Fishes, Euphrates River, Al-Musaib City, Babylon Province, Iraq
[1]
Abbas, A. A.-K. 2007. Histopathological studies of some parasites of the Asian catfish, Silurus triostegus (Heckel, 1843) and potassium permanganate on the black molly, Poecilia sphenops (Valenciennes, 1846). Ph. D. Thesis, Coll. Educ., Univ. Basrah: 144pp (In Arabic).
[2]
Abdul-Ameer, K. N. 1989. Study of the parasites of freshwater fishes from Tigris River in Salah Al-Dien province, Iraq. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Sci., Univ. Baghdad: 98pp (In Arabic).
[3]
Abdul-Rahman, N. M. 1999. Parasites infection in fish from Garmat Ali River and its relation with food items. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Agric., Univ. Basrah: 103pp (In Arabic).
[4]
Adday, T. K. 2001. Biology of the crustacean Ergasilus ogawai Kabata, 1992 which parasitized on some Iraqi fishes. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Agric., Univ. Basrah: 117pp (In Arabic).
[5]
Adday, T. K. 2013. Parasitic crustaceans of some marine fishes of Basrah province, Iraq. Ph. D. Thesis, Coll. Agric., Univ. Basrah: 302pp
[6]
Adday, T. K. and Ali, A. H. 2011. Ergasilus boleophthalmi sp. n. (Copepoda: Ergasilidae) parasitic on gobiid fishes from Shatt Al-Basrah canal, south of Iraq. Wiad. Parazytol., 57(3): 137-142.
[7]
Ahyong, S. T., Lowry, J. K., Alonso, M., Bamber, R. N., Boxshall, G. A., Castro, P., Gerken, S., Karaman, G. S., Goy, J. W., Jones, D. S., Meland, K., Rogers, D. C. and Svavarsson, J. 2011. Subphylum Crustacea Brünnich, 1772. In: Z.-Q. Zhang (Ed.). Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa, 3148: 165-191.
[8]
Al-Alusi, M. A.-S. 1998. A study of some biological aspects and parasites of the mugilid fish Liza abu (Heckel) in Alus region, upper Euphrates River, Anbar province. Ph. D. Thesis, Coll. Sci., Al-Mustansirya Univ.: 121pp (In Arabic).
[9]
Ali, N. M., Al-Jafery, A. R. and Abdul-Ameer, K. N. 1987. Parasitic fauna of freshwater fishes in Diyala River, Iraq. J. Biol. Sci. Res., 18(1): 163-181.
[10]
Al-Jadoaa, N. A. A. 2002. The parasitic infections and pathological changes of some local and cultured fishes from Al-Qadisiya and Babylon provinces. Ph. D. Thesis, Coll. Educ., Al-Qadisiya Univ.: 158pp (In Arabic).
[11]
Al-Niaeemi, B. H. S. 1997. A study on parasites of the fish Silurus glanis L., from Tigris River in Mosul city with special reference to the histopathological effects caused by some infections. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Sci., Univ. Mosul: 116pp (In Arabic).
[12]
Al-Saadi, A. A. J .J. 2007. Ecology and taxonomy of parasites of some fishes and biology of Liza abu from Al-Husainia creek in Karbala province, Iraq. Ph. D. Thesis, Coll. Educ. (Ibn Al-Haitham), Univ. Baghdad: 155pp (In Arabic).
[13]
Al-Salim, N. K. and Jori, M. M. 2002. Study of the parasites of two mugilid fish species and the effect of some on the blood parameters. III: First record of two species of parasites in south of Iraq. Mar. Mesopot., 17(1): 223-235. (In Arabic).
[14]
Al-Salmany, S. O. K. 2015. Parasitic infection of some fish species from Euphrates River at Al-Qaim city, Anbar province. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Sci., Univ. Tikrit (Under preparation).
[15]
Al-Zubaidy, A. B. 2007. A study on some crustacean fish parasites from fresh and marine waters. J. Egypt. Acad. Soc. Environ. Develop., 8(2): 127-137.
[16]
Amado, M. A. P. M., Rocha, C. E. F., Piasecki, W., Al-Daraji, S. A. M. and Mhaisen, F. T. 2001. Copepods of the family Ergasilidae (Poecilostomatoida) parasitic on fishes from Khor Al-Zubair lagoon, Iraq. Hydrobiologia, 459: 213-221.
[17]
Amlacher, E. 1970. Textbook of fish diseases (Engl. transl.). T. F. H. Publ., Jersey City: 302pp
[18]
Asmar, K. R., Balasem, A. N., Mhaisen, F. T., Al-Khateeb, G. H. and Al-Jawda, J. M. 1999. Survey of the parasites of some fish species from Al-Qadisiya Dam Lake, Iraq. Ibn Al-Haitham J. Pure Appl. Sci., 12(1): 52-61.
[19]
Balasem, A. N., Mhaisen, F. T., Adday, T. K., Al-Jawda, J. M. and Asmar, K. R. 2003. A second survey of parasitic infections in freshwater fishes from Al-Qadisiya Dam Lake, Euphrates River, Iraq. Mar. Mesopot., 18(2): 123-140. (In Arabic).
[20]
Bunkley-Williams, L., Williams, E. H. Jr. and Bashirullah, A. K. M. 2006. Isopods (Isopoda: Aegidae, Cymothoidae, Gnathiidae) associated with Venezuelan marine fishes (Elasmobranchii, Actinopterygii). Rev. de Biol. Trop., 54 (Suppl. 3): 175-188.
[21]
Bykhovskaya-Pavlovskaya, I. E., Gusev, A. V., Dubinina, M. N., Izyumova, N. A., Smirnova, T. S., Sokolovskaya, I. L., Shtein, G. A., Shul'man, S. S. and Epshtein, V. M. 1962. Key to parasites of freshwater fish of U. S. S. R. Akad. Nauk, S. S. S. R., Moscow: 727pp (In Russian).
[22]
Duijn, van C. Jnr. 1973. Diseases of fishes, 3rd ed., Iliffe Books, London: 372pp
[23]
Eschmeyer, W. N. (Ed.) 2015. Species by family/ subfamily in the Catalog of fishes. http://research.calacademy.org/research/ ichthyology/Catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp. (Accessed June 2015).
[24]
Fattohy, Z. I. 1975. Studies on the parasites of certain teleostean fishes from the River Tigris, Mosul, Iraq. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Sci., Univ. Mosul: 136pp
[25]
Froese, R. and Pauly, D. (Eds.) 2015. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org. (Accessed June 2015).
[26]
Gaines, J. L. and Rogers, W. A. 1975. Some skin lesions of fishes. In: W. E. Ribelin and G. Migaki (Eds.). The pathology of fishes. Univ. Wisconsin Press, Madison: 429-441.
[27]
Herzog, P. H. 1969. Untersuchungen über die parasiten der süßwasserfische des Irak. Arch. Fischereiwiss., 20(2/3): 132-147.
[28]
Hoffman, G. L. 1999. Parasites of North American freshwater fishes, 2nd ed. Cornell Univ. Press, London: 539pp
[29]
Hussain, H. T. 2007. Survey of ectoparasites of some fishes of Al-Hilla River in Babylon province. J. Babylon Univ., Sci., 14(3): 228-232. (In Arabic).
[30]
Hussain, H. T. 2008. Study on the external ectoparasites of mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) in Al-Hilla River, Babylon province. J. Babylon Univ., Pure Appl. Sci., 15(1): 245-248.
[31]
Jori, M. M. 1998. Study of the parasites of two mugilid fish species and the effect of some on the blood parameters. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Agric., Univ. Basrah: 136pp (In Arabic).
[32]
Jori, M. M. 2006. Parasitic study on the Asian catfish Silurus triostegus (Heckel, 1843) from Al-Hammar marshes, Basrah, Iraq. Ph. D. Thesis, Coll. Educ., Univ. Basrah: 192pp
[33]
Khamees, N. R. and Mhaisen, F. T. 1995. Two copepod crustaceans as additional species to the parasitic fauna of fishes of Iraq. Basrah J. Sci., 13(1): 49-56.
[34]
Lester, R. J. G. and Hayward, C. J. 2006. Phylum Arthropoda. In: P. T. K. Woo (Ed.). Fish diseases and disorders, vol. 1. CAB Int., Wallingford: 466-565.
[35]
Margolis, L., Esch, G. W., Holmes, J. C., Kuris, A. M. and Schad, G. A. 1982. The use of ecological terms in parasitology (Report of an ad hoc committee of the American Society of Parasitologists). J. Parasitol., 68(1): 131-133.
[36]
McGraw-Hill Staff 2003. Crustacea. In: McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed., McGraw-Hill Companies, New York. Answers.com 24 July 2014 at http://www.answers.com/topic/crustacea-2.
[37]
McKiernan, J. P., Grutter, A. S. and Davies, A. J. 2005. Reproductive and feeding ecology of parasitic gnathiid isopods of epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) with consideration of their role in the transmission of a haemogregarine. Int. J. Parasitol., 35: 19-27.
[38]
Mhaisen, F. T. 2015. Index-catalogue of parasites and disease agents of fishes of Iraq (Unpublished: mhaisenft@yahoo. co.uk).
[39]
Noga, E. J. 2010. Fish disease: Diagnosis and treatment, 2nd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, Ames, Iowa: 519pp
[40]
Overstreet, R. M., Jovonovich, J. and Ma, H. 2009. Parasitic crustaceans as vectors of viruses, with an emphasis on three penaeid viruses. Integ. Comp. Biol., 49(2): 127-141.
[41]
Rahemo, Z. I. F. 1977. Recording of two new hosts of Lamproglena pulchella Nordmann, 1832 (Crustacea: Decapoda) in Iraq. Iraqi J. Biol. Scs., 5(1): 82-83.
[42]
Rahemo, Z. I. F. 1982. Two new species of Ergasilus (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) from the gills of two Iraqi freshwater fishes. Bull. Basrah Nat. Hist. Mus., 5: 39-59.
[43]
Roberts, L. S. and Janovy, J., Jr. 1996. Gerald D. Schmidt and Larry S. Roberts’ foundations of parasitology, 5th ed., Wm. C. Brown Publisher, Dubuque, 659 pp
[44]
Rohde, K. (Ed.) 2005. Marine parasitology. Commonwealth Sci. Indus. Res. Organiz. Publ., Collingwood, Victoria and CAB Int. Publ., Wallingford: 565 pp
[45]
WoRMS 2015. World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org. (Accessed June 2015).
[46]
Zander, C. D., Groenwold, S. and Strohbach, U. 1994. Parasite transfer from crustacean to fish hosts in the Lübeck Bight, SW Baltic Sea. Helgolander Meeresunters, 48: 89-105.
[47]
Zangana, M. G. M. A. 2008. Survey study of parasites of freshwater fishes from Al-Khazir River in Nineveh province. M. Sc. Thesis, Coll. Vet. Med., Univ. Mosul: 120pp (In Arabic).
