Prevalence investigation of Grass Carp to Lernaea parasite in the warmseasons of the year in breeding ponds in Khuzestan - the region ofShushtar

Introduction: parasites are account as small to sometimes large causing damagefactors in both groups of marine fish and farmed ones, and lead to pathologicalchanges and so reduce the quality and will cause decreasing fish in demand.Development of aquaculture, over the past decades, and concerns about theprevalence of parasites, cause more attention of experts to the problems that iscaused by parasites; they also pay attention to the importance of parasites inreducing the power of reproduction in aquatics. Due to the above, this study wasperformed to investigate the prevalence of Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodonidella)to the Lernaea parasite.Methods: ۲۷۵ pieces of fish in the weights over to ۱۵۰ g were caught from ۴ farmslocated in the city of Shushtar, in September and October, ۲۰۰۹. The collectedsamples were placed in ۲۰ liter containers, containing of ۱۰% formalin and thenwere transferred to University of Kazeroon -the laboratory of Faculty of VeterinaryMedicine. These samples were examined from the point of view of total bodylength, standard length, the height and weight of body. In the next step, theinfected fish were evaluated from the viewpoint of the number of parasiticcontamination of Lernaea.Results: The results showed that ۶۳ pieces of the total number of hunted fish wereinfected by Lernaea parasites. Contamination frequency of examined fish to thementioned parasite is reported ۲۲.۹۹%. The relationship between total body lengthand weight with the prevalence of contamination of Lernaea parasite was alsoexamined and no significant relationship between the variables mentioned aboveand with the prevalence of contamination to the parasite, was observed.Discussion and Conclusion: due to the above, warm seasons and water quality ofponds can be considered as the major factors in the evolution of parasites andcreation of this level of contamination.

Keywords:

Grass Carp , Lernaea , warm seasons , Shushtar.