Abstract
Growth profiles of male Cyprinus carpio, 12 uninfected (healthy) and 12 infected with the crustacean Argulus indicus and associated fungus Saprolegnia sp. are presented. The fish were maintained under controlled conditions and provided with ad libitum food for 8 weeks. The instantaneous (G) and relative (h) rates of growth, and production (P) in uninfected carp (0.003 to 0.036 g.d−1, 0.29 to 3.68%, 0.25 to 3.23 g respectively) were much higher than those of infected carp ( − 0.007 to 0.021 g.d −1, 0.71 to 2.17%, 0.59 to 1.76 g). The condition factor (K) for uninfected carp was 4.5 to 4.8 compared to 2.6 to 3.0 for infected carp. During each of the 8 wk the weekly change in weight of infected carp was about 4% less than that of uninfected carp. These data show that Argulus-Saprolegnia infections significantly suppress carp growth and indicate that comparative growth rates can be used as indicators of parasite stress.
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Singhal, R.N., Jeet, S. & Davies, R.W. The effects of argulosis-saprolehniasis on the growth and production of Cyprinus carpoi . Hydrobiologia 202, 27–31 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027090
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027090