Ichthyo-parasitological studies in northeastern India

Abstract

Fish constitutes an essential component of the diet for most of the people of northeastern India. It provides nutrition and employment opportunities for most of the population of the region. Still, fish diseases due to helminth parasites pose a severe threat to fish health and the fishery industry. Helminths are worm-like parasites affecting the fishes and thus reduce their food value. Fishes are mostly infected with four groups of helminths, viz., Trematoda, Cestoda, Nematoda, and Acanthocephala. The article reviews the investigation and research on the trend of helminth parasites in the freshwater fishes of northeastern India through the study of available literature. For the present study, secondary data was collected from published research articles, journals, reports, and books on this major issue and compiled together. Google Scholar is the leading search engine used to search for scholarly literature in this area broadly. The study revealed that helminth parasites are extensively distributed in the freshwater fishes of different regions of northeastern India and are primarily found in the intestine of the fishes. Females are found to be highly infested than males. Also, the seasonal influence was observed on the occurrence of parasites. Several workers have conducted considerable works in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. But to date, there is no published record on the occurrence of helminth parasites in the fishes of Sikkim and Nagaland. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct further research on the current topic that could help the scientific community and pisciculturists understand the biodiversity of parasites in different host fishes for proper aquaculture management.