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Infection of the parasitic isopods on commercial fishes of the northern part of the east coast of India

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Abstract

The present study reports the parasitic isopod infection on commercial fishes of the northern part of the east coast of India collected during the period 2010–2015 from the marine waters of Odisha and West Bengal. During the study, 394 isopods were collected after examining 2668 fishes. These include 14 species of isopods, out of which 13 belong to 5 genera under the family Cymothoidae, and a single species Alitropus typus belongs to the family: Aegidae. Of theses, 03 species viz., Catoessa boscii, Cymothoa eremita and Nerocila loveni are first record to the northern part of east coast of India. Out of the 2668 fishes examined, 326 examples belonging to 34 species under 19 different families were infected by different isopods. Members of the host fish family Carangidae were more parasitized by isopods, followed by Clupeidae, Scoberidae, and Leiognathidae. The dominant isopods were Nerocila phaiopleura and Catoessa boschii. The total prevalence was 12.21. The prevalence was high on the host fish Alepes djedaba and lowest on Lutjanus johnii. The total infection caused by genus Alitropus was 1.52%, Anilocra was 5.07%, Catoessa was 24.87%, Cymothoa was 0.25%, Nerocila was 65.73%, and Norileca was 2.55%. The isopod  prevalence was high during post-monsoon than pre-monsoon and monsoon.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thankfulness to Director, Zoological Survey of India for providing necessary facilities to work.

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  1. Department of Zoology, Bajkul Milani Mahavidyalaya, Kismat Bajkul, Purba Medinipur, 721655, India

    Dipanjan Ray

  2. Post-Graduate Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

    Parnasree Mohapatra

  3. Department of Zoology, West Bengal State University, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, West Begnal, 700126, India

    Narayan Ghorai

  4. Post-Graduate Department of Zoology, Berhampur University, Berhampur, 760007, India

    Jaya Kishor Seth

  5. Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Ganjam, 761002, India

    Anil Mohapatra

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Ray, D., Mohapatra, P., Ghorai, N. et al. Infection of the parasitic isopods on commercial fishes of the northern part of the east coast of India. J Parasit Dis 46, 440–453 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-021-01463-1

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