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Community structure, seasonal dynamics, and impact of some biological parameters of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus on the infection level of the helminth parasites

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Abstract

Fish parasitic diseases impose a major economic concern on aquaculture. Identified parasites of Clarias gariepinus include one monogenean, Macrogyrodactylus clarii (gills), three digeneans Orientocreadium batrachoides, Eumasenia bangweulensis and Sanguinicola sp. (intestine), two cestodes Tetracampose ciliotheca and Monobothrioides chalmersius (intestine) and two nematodes Paracamallanus cyathopharynx and Procamallanus pseudolaeviconchus (intestine and stomach). Most nematodes, digeneans and cestodes occurred in all months of the study period. However, M. clarii and Sanguinicola sp. disappeared for 6 and 8 months of the year, respectively. The digenean group was the most dominant followed by the cestode and nematode groups, respectively. The nematodes attained the highest infection rate over the digeneans and cestodes while the monogenean M. clarii recorded the lowest infection rate. The infection level of examined parasites varied seasonally, but no overall significant pattern was detected. E. bangweulensis showed a highly significant difference for all parameters seasonally. A higher prevalence was obvious in males than females for most parasites, and the opposite for the mean intensity except for P. pseudolaeviconchus which was significantly different between females and males in the mean abundance. There were variations in the relationship between the host condition factor and helminth parasite infection levels. O. batrachoides, E. bangweulensis and P. cyathopharynx recorded the highest infection level in class II. The mean prevalence was highly significantly different between host classes for T. ciliotheca, M. chalmersius and P. pseudolaeviconchus.

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All data used in this study are available upon personal request to the authors.

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  1. Zoology Department, Faculty of Sciences, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

    Azza F. El-Tantawy, Mohamed I. Mashaly & Mohamed M. El-Naggar

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  1. Azza F. El-Tantawy
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Contributions

AFET, MIM and MMEN made a substantial contribution to the conception and design of the study. All authors contributed to data acquisition. AFET collected fish, examined the parasites, and photographed them. All authors analyzed and interpreted the data. AFET has written the first draft of the manuscript and all authors revised it critically. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohamed I. Mashaly.

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No experiments were performed on live fish. All applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. Mansoura University ethics approval no. Sci-Z-M-2020–8.

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El-Tantawy, A.F., Mashaly, M.I. & El-Naggar, M.M. Community structure, seasonal dynamics, and impact of some biological parameters of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus on the infection level of the helminth parasites. J Parasit Dis 47, 707–717 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-023-01617-3

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