COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF PROTOZOAN PARASITES IN HETEROPNEUSTES FOSSILIS (BLOCH 1794) IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The study was conducted to prepare a database for the infection status of
protozoan parasites on an important host fish species of Bangladesh,
Heretropneustes fossilis. Host samples were collected from the freshwater habitats
of six different districts of Bangladesh- Manikganj, Faridpur, Mymensingh,
Kishoreganj, Bogura, and Jashore. H. fossilis was noted to be infected by 6
parasite species, of which 3 belonged to myxozoa (Henneguya singhi, Henneguya
qadrii and Henneguya mystusia); 1 belonged to ciliophora (Trichodina siddiquae) and
2 (Trypanosoma singhii and Piscinoodium pillulare) belonged to mastigophora.The
parasites, Trypanosoma singhii and Henneguya singhi were recorded as new
locality record in H. fossilis. The three parasites Piscinoodium pillulare, Henneguya
qadrii and Henneguya mystusia were the first recorded parasites in this fish and
the first locality record in Bangladesh. The parasites were observed to occupy
gill, body slime, and blood. Gill parasites were abundantly found compared to
body slime and blood parasites. The highest prevalence (67.21%) of infection of
H. fossilis was observed in Manikganj and the lowest prevalence (54.67%) of
infection was observed in Bogura. Parasites of H. fossilis showed the highest
diversity in fishes of Faridpur (2.63). Species richness of parasites was highest in
Manikganj (0.38) and species evenness was relatively low (0.13-0.19) in almost all
the study sites.