Assessment of ecto and endo parasites of Schizothorax plagiostomus inhabiting river Panjkora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

<jats:p>Abstract Fish provides main source of high quality protein to more than one billion people in the world. Fish parasites directly affect the productivity of fish and indirectly on human health. This research was aimed to assess the helminth parasites in Schizothorax plagiostomus (the snow trout) from river Panjkora, KP, Pakistan. A total of 88 fish samples (n= 88) were collected from the upper, middle and lower regions of the river through cast nets, hand nets and hooks. All the collected fish samples were examined in the Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Malakand for helminth parasites during July 2018 to February 2019.Among these fishes nematodes, trematodes, cestodes and acanthocephalan were isolated and identified. Overall prevalence of the fish parasites was 60.22% (53/88). The intensity of the parasite was observed from 1.7% to 4.61%. Highest prevalence was reported in summer season 86.36% while lowest in the winter season 36.36%. This study shows that summer season affects the fish business and result in poor quality fish meat with risk of zoonotic diseases. Adults were highly infected 82.25% while no infection was found in juvenile specimens. Female fish samples had higher prevalence 68.22% than males 48.22%. Fishes of the lower reaches had highest prevalence 60.22% than the upper reaches 40.0%. Fish samples with maximum length and weight were highly 76.92% infected than small sized fish with low body weight. Present study addresses that Rhabdochona schizothoracis in the intestine and Diplozoon paradoxum in gills of snow trout fish has a long term relationship and call as a natural infection in cyprinids and it is zoonotic threat to human.</jats:p>

Effect of feeding frequency as a rearing system on biological performance, survival, body chemical composition and economic efficiency of Asian seabass Lates calcarifer (Bloch, 1790) reared under controlled environmental conditions

“…One billion people globally consume fish, which is one of the major sources of high-quality protein. ( Ahmad et al, 2020 , Khalid et al, 2020 ). Asian sea bass is considered a vital euryhaline fish with high profit and nutritional value ( Singh, 2000 , Hassan et al, 2021a ).…”

Prevalence of rhabdochoniasis in snow trout of river Swat and river Panjkora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan

“…Present study provides information regarding the prevalence of a nematode parasite, Rhabdochona spp in the population of S. plagiostomus (the snow trout) from different localities in river Swat and river Panjkora, Pakistan. The species of the genus Rhabdochona have also been reported in S. plagiostomus inhabiting rivers Panjkora and river Swat, Pakistan (Ahmad et al, 2020;Khalid et al, 2020). The natural route of this nematode transmission in snow trout remain unresolved and it may include the possible involvement of an intermediate host, Trichopteran (caddisfly) larvae of the genus Hydropsyche (H. angustipennis and H. pellucidula) as natural intermediate hosts (Moravec and Scholz, 1995) where the parasite becomes more infectious to the snow trout.…”

Length-weight relationship: eight species of Cyprinidae from river Panjkora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

“…River Panjkora Lower Dir is famous for its ichthyofaunal diversity among the fresh water reservoirs of the country. Recently these fish have been studied by Ahmad et al (2020), Khalid et al (2021), Khan et al (2021). In the present investigation, 724 specimens belonging to eight species of a family cyprinidae from the subjected area were studied to learn their length-weight relationships.…”