Checklists of Protozoans and Myxozoans of Freshwater and Marine Fishes of Basrah Province, Iraq

Abstract

Reviewing the literature on all the protozoans and myxozoans parasitizing freshwater and marine fishes of Basrah Province, Iraq indicated the presence of 25 protozoans (one sarcodinid, six mastigophorans, one opalinid, four epicomplexans and 13 ciliophorans) as well as ten myxozoans. Some of these parasites infect skin, fins and gills of their hosts while others are internal parasites of fish muscles, body cavity and different body viscera. Apart from one taxon which was recorded from a marine locality, the remaining taxa were recorded from freshwater localities. The total number of protozoan and myxozoan species recorded for each fish host species fluctuated from a minimum of one parasite species in 11 fish hosts to a maximum of 15 parasite species in Silurus triostegus. Number of fish hosts reported for these parasites fluctuated from one host in case of 21 parasite species to a maximum of 19 host species in case of the ciliophoran Trichodina domerguei.

Checklists of nematodes of freshwater and marine fishes of Basrah Province, Iraq

“…Only one report on this group from fishes of Basrah is available. This is the record of the leech Hemiclepsis marginata (O. F. Müller, 1774) from gills of L. abu at the junction of Al-Khora canal with Shatt Al-Arab River (Mhaisen et al, 1993). This leech was reported for the first time in Iraq from the skin of three fish species in fish ponds near Baghdad (Khalifa, 1985).…”

“…For these reasons, it was decided to review these data in accordance with up-to-date nematode classification using major taxonomic accounts and also to revise fish names and provide an updated host-nematodes checklist in addition to the nematodes list. This review is a continuation of series of literature reviews on major groups of parasites of fishes of Basrah province (Mhaisen et al, 1993;2013 a, b, c;. Finally, it was also planned to compare the richness of infected fishes of this province with nematodes with those of the whole country of Iraq based on data extracted from the index-catalogue of parasites and disease agents of fishes of Iraq (Mhaisen, 2014).…”

Checklists of crustaceans of freshwater and marine fishes of Basrah Province, Iraq

“…For these reasons, it was decided to review these data in accordance with Ahyong et al (2011) andWoRMS (2014) and also to revise fish names and provide an updated host-crustacean checklist in addition to the crustacean list. This review is a continuation of previous literature reviews on major groups of parasites of fishes of Basrah province (Mhaisen et al, 1993;2013a, b, c;Ali et al, 2014;Mhaisen et al, 2014). Finally, it was also planned to compare the richness of infected fishes of this province with crustaceans with those of the whole country of Iraq based on data extracted from the index-catalogue of parasites and disease agents of fishes of Iraq .…”