Digenean parasites of Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) in the Turkish Black Sea coast

• Main Authors: Ahmet Özer, Türkay Öztürk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ege University 2016-03-01
• Series: Su Ürünleri Dergisi
• Subjects: -; trachurus trachurus; karagöz istavrit; digenea parazit; karadeniz
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/egejfas/issue/17268/180403

In the present study, we investigated the digenean parasites of Atlantic horse mackerel, Trachurus trachurus (L., 1758), in the Turkish Black Sea coast for the first time. Fish were collected throughout a year period from local fishermen in Sinop. A total of 256 fish specimens were weighed and measured, subsequently examined for parasites using conventional methods under an Olympus microscope (BX53) equipped with a digital camera (DP50). The examination included gills, pharynx, body cavity and visceral organs (stomach, intestine, liver, swim bladder and gonads). Parasites recovered were fixed and preserved using methods commonly applied. A total of five species including adults of Prodistomum polonii (Molin 1879) Bray and Gibson 1990, Ectenurus lepidus Looss, 1907, Monascus filiformis (Rudolphi, 1819) Looss, 1907, Lasiotocus typicus (Nicoll, 1912) and metacercaria of Stephanostomum cesticillum (Molin, 1858) Looss, 1899 were identified. Each parasite species were counted, their prevalence (%) and mean intensity values were determined according to Bush et al. (1997). Kruskal-Wallis test (Non-parametric ANOVA) was performed to find out the significant differences in the mean intensity values of the parasite for two length classes of fish as well as for the seasons. All the statistical tests were performed at the significance level of 5%. The calculated overall infection prevalence (%) and mean intensity values were 48.8% and 3.78±0.34, respectively. This data is the first on the digenean parasite fauna of the Atlantic horse mackerel collected from the Turkish Black Sea coast. Lasiotocus typicus and Stephanostomum cesticillum are new parasite records for Turkey.