Checklists of parasites of fishes of al-Diwaniyah Province, Iraq

Abstract EN

Literature reviews of reports concerning the parasitic fauna of fishes of Al-Diwaniyah province, Iraq till the end of December 2018 showed that a total of 43 parasite species are so far known from 13 valid fish species investigated for parasitic infections.

The parasitic fauna included one euglenozoan, two myzozoans, six ciliophorans, three myxozoans, three trematodes, nine monogeneans, four cestodes, six nematodes, three acanthocephalans and six crustaceans.

The infection with the trematodes, one monogenean, two cestodes and one nematode occurred with larval stages, while the remaining infections were either with trophozoites or adult parasites.

Among the inspected fishes, Carasobarbus luteus was infected with the highest number of parasite species (20 parasite species), followed by Planiliza abu (17 species) and Cyprinus carpio (16 species) while two fish species (Ctenopharyngodon idella and Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) were infected with the minimum number of parasite species (three parasite species each).

The ciliophoran Trichodina domerguei and the crustacean Lernaea cyprinacea were the commonest parasite species as they were reported from nine fish species each, followed by the monogenean Dactylogyrus extensus and the nematode Contracaecum sp.

which were reported from eight and six host species, respectively, while the minimum number of one host species was reported for 22 parasite species.