A survey of endohelminth parasites of fishes from water reservoir and Elemi River in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

A survey of endohelminth parasites of fishes from a Water Reservoir and ElemiRiverin Ado-Ekiti state was carried out.  Out of 345 fish specimens belonging to eight species caught from the Water Reservoir, only 167 (48.4%) were infected while out of 279 specimens of different nine species, only 175 (62.7%) were infected in River Elemi.  Parasites encountered during the study were one species of trematode, Clinostomum tilapiae, two species of nematode namely camallanus  and  Procamallanus sp.  and an acanthocephalan parasite.  This result showed low helminth parasite diversity but the prevalence of infection was relatively high.  The prevalence of infection from the two sites was highest in the clariids and followed in descending order by Hepsetus odoe, Labeo coubie, the cichlids and Ctenopoma kingsleyae.  The results also revealed that size/age and sex influence the degree of helminth infection in fishes.  Considering the fish-man interactions in recent time, these findings have substantial economic and public health implications.