Seasonal variation in helminth parasites of snakeheads Channa punctatus and Channa striatus (Perciformes: Channidae) in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

SummarySnakehead fishes are widely consumed throughout South East Asia, China and India because of their good taste of meat and high nutrient values such as presence of prostaglandins, thromboxane and Omega-6 fatty acid. Parasitic infection constitutes significant economic loss in fish production. The aim of this work was to study the seasonal variation of helminths in snakeheads. In the presented study, a three-year survey has been performed. A total of 1013 individuals of Channa punctatus and 247 individuals of Channa striatus were examined. A total of 3783 helminths were collected, with an average of 3.02 helminths/fish. 43.50 % individuals of C. punctatus and 59.10 % of C. striatus were found to be infected with acanthocephalans, trematodes, nematodes and cestodes per year. The prevalence and mean abundance of Pallisentis sp. was at its peak in summer. However the prevalence of trematodes, nematodes and cestodes was at peak during autumn. Mean abundance of nematodes was at peak in summer. Interestingly, the males were found more infected as compared to the females and the infection rate in males peaked in summer. In comparison to other weight groups, medium size hosts (21 – 40 g) were found more consistently infected. Thus the results indicate that there are seasonal variations in parasitic helminths infecting C. punctatus and C. striatus which also depend upon sex and weight. These variations may be attributed to various environmental and biological factors including parasite life cycle and immune level of host.

Record on Nematode <I>Tanqua tiara</I> Infection on Snakehead Fish <I>Channa striata</I> in South Kalimantan Indonesia

“…Cestode (Senga sp.) was also found in Channa punctatus in Dhaka Bangladesh (Sultana and Salam, 2015) and also in Channa punctatus, and Channa striatus in Uttar Pradesh, India (Gautam et al, 2018).…”

Effect of Environmental Factors on the Intensity of Nematode Infection in Marine Fishes of Visakhapatnam, A.P, India

“…On the basis of the three years data, it was found that the temperature is an important parameter which influences the intensity of infection. Gautam et al (2018) who suggested that the infestation rate was higher in summer than in other seasons. In the present study, Prevalence of infection was observed highest in the month of May in all three years (2007)(2008)(2009), when the average sea water temperature was 30.06 0 C. In the present study, incidence of nematode parasitism in fish was highest in summer (March-June) and lowest prevalence was found in winter (November-February) whereas the mean intensity was highest in winter (November-February) and lowest mean intensity was found in summer (March-June) (Figure 1).…”

A case study on infection of trematodes pathogenicity in wild Channa striata collected from various freshwater ponds in Guntur district rural, semirural and urban areas

“…Feeding activates of the host may also be one of the reason (Auda Fares (2013) [1] . Furtherly found infection rate percentage was high during the periods of low temperature and low percentage infection during the high temperature (Kumari Gautam et al, 2018) [2] . The factors responsible for influencing the seasonal cycle of parasitic infection were namely temperature, host feeding habits, availability of infective intermediate hosts, and parasite maturation (Joanne Cable et al, 2017) [3] .…”