A total of 87 wild sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, was collected from the Beymelek Lagoon, Antalya, Turkey between January 2009 and December 2009, and examined for the presence of helminth parasites. The effects of season, host size, sex and age on helminth infection parameters was investigated. Of 87 D. labrax, 62 (71.2%) were found to be infected by at least one parasite. In total, three helminth parasite species were identified: the monogenean Diplectanum aequens, the digenean Acanthostomum absconditum and the larval nematode Hysterothylacium sp.. D. aequens was the most common species in this study and a total of 2172 parasites were recorded on 62 fishes. Total prevalence and mean intensity of D. aequens were 71.2% and
35.03±31.7 parasite/fish, respectively. A total of 69 A. absconditum were found in 9 of 87 fish examined (10.3%; 7.6±7.1 parasite/fish). Hysterothylacium sp. larvae was observed in only one fish examined (1.1%). All three helminth species showed a definite seasonal cycle in prevalence of infection. The highest prevalence and significantly higher abundance of infection were observed in the winter for D. aequens, and in the autumn for A. absconditum and Hysterothylacium sp. larvae. Differences were observed in infection levels at different age groups. Prevalence and mean intensity of D. aequens were the lowest in age group of 3 whereas the highest in age groups of 1 and 5. A. absconditum was found in all age groups of fish, except for age group 3. Hysterothylacium sp. larvae were observed only at 5th age group. Present study also showed that the sex of the host also influenced the parasite burden. The prevalence of infection was higher in male fishes. Forty two males were found to be infected by one or more parasites species. The overall prevalence of infection was 84% and 54.1% for males and females, respectively. The larger sized fish were also more heavily infected than small fish. A. absconditum is reported for the first time from European sea bass in Turkey and this species is also a new record for the helminth fauna of Turkey.
Birincil Dil | Türkçe |
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Bölüm | Makaleler |
Yazarlar | |
Yayımlanma Tarihi | 11 Mart 2015 |
Yayımlandığı Sayı | Yıl 2014 Cilt: 1 Sayı: 1 |