Occurrence of Argulus (Crustacea: Branchiura) in fishes of the freshwater reservoirs and aquarium shops of Vadodara, Gujarat (India)

Abstract

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food producing sectors in the world and it is a highly risky business. It is greatly dependent on health of fishes and higher economic losses can be incurred due to disease problems. In India, major freshwater fishes are affected by parasitic diseases. Argulus is a major ectoparasite that can cause clinical infestation and moderate to severe disease causing huge losses to the fish farmer or aquaculturist. Moreover, occurrence of Argulus has not been investigated in many regions of Gujarat state, India. Their abundance and clinical lesions can reduce the productivity. Hence, a study was undertaken to investigate the presence and abundance of the Argulus parasite from the freshwater resources and Aquarium shops, including the cultivable and ornamental fishes in and around Vadodara district, Gujarat (India). A total of 212 specimens of cultivable and ornamental fishes were sampled and subjected to laboratory examination. The parasites were mostly collected from the body’s surface. The specimens collected from infected fishes were identified as Argulus belonging to Subphylum Crustacea and Subclass Branchiura. It was observed that Argulus affects ornamental fish and IMCs where the total incidence and abundance was observed higher in ornamental fishes (49.50 % and 2.50, respectively) as compared to Indian major carp (IMCs; 25.22 % and 1.59, respectively). Ornamental fishes were infested with a large number of parasites as compared to IMCs. The present study is the first ever report of parasitic infection in freshwater fishes from the study area.