[Infection of river whitefishes [rutilus rutilus] by ligula intestinalis parasite in Aras dam; case series]

ABSTRACT

A lot of organisms including parasites cause damages to the fishes. Ligulosis is one of the most common parasitic infections and is economically the most important fish diseases in sweet water. This study was performed to introduce the cases of river whitefishes infected by Ligula intestinalis parasite. Case 50 river whitefishes [Rutilus rutilus], which had been hunted from Aras dam prepared from Babol fish market and transferred to parasitology department of Babol medical school. For more investigation, the samples were kept in 10% formalin. On average most of these fishes had 4 to 5 numbers of plerocercoid larvae that their size was on average 30 +/- 5 centimeters. Conclusion: This parasite has been known to infect aquatic animals especially breeding fishes that many scholars in the world reported it and there are some reports from Iran. The important point is the toxin produced by this parasite, which causes special physiologic side effects in fishes such as infertility, reduction of body weight, pale and etc and this toxin can be harmful for human health