Helminth parasites of cultured Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia zillii in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined helminth parasites of cultured Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia zillii in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. A total of 60 fish samples (30 each of C.gariepinus and T. zillii) were subjected to parasitological examinations. Results revealed a total of 47(78.33%) fishes infected with various species of parasites: Nematodes (Camallanus polypteri, Paracamallanus cyathopharynx, and Procamallanus laevionchus), Cestodes (Polyonchobothrium torulosus and P. clariae) and Trematodes (Dactylogyrus extensus and Glossiduim pedatum) in decreasing order of abundance. Out of the 60 fish samples examined, 47 were infected with 219 parasites: 142(64.84%) nematodes, 40(18.26%) cestodes and 37(16.89%) trematodes. A total of 159(72.60%) parasites were recovered from C. gariepinus out of which 103(64.78%) were nematodes, 19(18.45%) were cestodes and 37(35.92%) were trematodes. While 60(27.40%) parasites were recovered from T. zilli, of which 39(65.00%) were nematodes and 21(35.00%) cestodes. No trematode was observed in the tilapia. The overall prevalence of parasitic infection was 78.33%. The results of chi square analysis showed that females of both species had significantly higher (P<0.05) prevalence of infection 27(84.4%) than males 20(71.4%). Also, C. gariepinus had higher infection rate of 25(83.33%) when compared to 22(73.33%) recorded in T. zillii.
 Key words: fish parasites, aquaculture, prevalence, C. gariepinus, T. zillii

Assessment of Microbial Loads, Species Characterization and Composition in Prawn (Macrobrachium vollenhovenii) Fillets from Major Wetlands in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

“…The results of the present study revealed that microorganisms present in prawns include both bacteria and fungi species including: The microbial organisms isolated from the samples were Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus albus, Escherichia coli, Micrococcus sp., Atrobacter sp., Salmonella sp., Candida tropicalis, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Mucor mucedo, Rhizopus sp., and Aspergillus terreus. Reports had shown that infection rates of these microbial agent on organisms are a reflection of the general infestation from the habitats, inappropriate processing, preservation and storage condition (FDA, 2007;Ella et al, 2013;Bassey and Effiong, 2016;Effiong and Isaac, 2019;Effiong and Obot, 2020;Bubu-Davies et al, 2023). The reports of the present study agreed with the work of Srinivasan et al (2015) who recovered similar organisms from the gut of farmed giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii.…”

“…The presence of Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus observed in the prawn samples was consistent with other studies (Effiong and Isaac, 2019;Effiong and Obot, 2020). It could be suggested that the presence of these organisms in prawn samples from these wetlands may be as a result of poor sanitary condition and improper handling of the samples by the fisher folks at the landing sites.…”