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Egg laying strategies and effect of temperature on egg development of Argulus siamensis

Journal of Parasitic Diseases volume 37, pages 158–162 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Argulus siamensis is the most damaging fish parasite prevalent in the freshwater aquaculture systems of India. In an attempt to further understand the behavior of this economically important parasite, the means of biological transmission, egg laying strategies and effect of temperature on development of eggs was studied. A. siamensis showed opportunistic egg laying behavior where in it used both living and non-living substrata for egg laying. It was marked that the parasites used the shells of freshwater snails of the family Viviparidae, the runners of the water weeds of genus Nymphoides and dead fish in the culture ponds for laying of eggs. This study confirmed that the maximum eggs were laid by the parasite in the habitat usage zone of the host fish. The optimum temperature for development of the eggs of A. siamensis into the infective naupliar stage and hatching was found to be 28 °C. These new insights into the behavior of A. siamensis would be helpful to devise biological control methods against the parasite.

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Acknowledgments

Funding support received from National Fund for Basic and Strategic Research in Agricultural Sciences, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India for carrying out this work is duly acknowledged. The authors wish to thank the Director, Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, India for providing necessary facilities during this study.

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Affiliations

  1. Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, 751 002, India

    Pramoda Kumar Sahoo, Jyotirmaya Mohanty, Banya Kar, Bikash Ranjan Mohanty & Sushil Kumar Garnayak

  2. Regional Research Centre of CIFA, Hessarghatta, Bangalore, 560 089, India

    Hemaprasanth

  3. National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Canal Ring Road, Dilkhusa, Telibagh, Lucknow, 226 002, India

    Joy Krushna Jena

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  1. Pramoda Kumar Sahoo
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  2. Jyotirmaya Mohanty
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  3. Hemaprasanth
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  4. Banya Kar
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  5. Bikash Ranjan Mohanty
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  6. Sushil Kumar Garnayak
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  7. Joy Krushna Jena
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Correspondence to Pramoda Kumar Sahoo.

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Sahoo, P.K., Mohanty, J., Hemaprasanth et al. Egg laying strategies and effect of temperature on egg development of Argulus siamensis . J Parasit Dis 37, 158–162 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-012-0148-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-012-0148-6

Keywords

  • Argulus siamensis
  • Egg laying
  • Biological transmission
  • Temperature