Infection of south sisorid catfish, Glyptothorax silviae (Actinoptrygii: Sisoridae) with Anchor Worm Lernaea sp. (Lernaeidae) in Saimareh River, Ilam province

The south sisorid catfish, Glyptothorax silviae is an endemic species that has been described from Jarrahi River, Khuzestan province. This species is distributed in west and southwest of Iran including Tigris-Eupherat and Persian Gulf basins. During a study on morphology of 14 collected G. silviae from Saimareh River, Lernaea sp. parasites were observed in the skin at pectoral fins and gills of eight specimens. The prevalence of this ectoparasite was 57.14%. This is the first report on the infection of Glyptothorax silviae with Lernaea which is aparasitic copepod found on the skin and gills of freshwater fishes and has been widely translocated with cultured fish species throughout the various freshwater of the world. Since Glyptothorax silviae is an endemic species, this discovery may provide useful information in conservation of south sisorid catfish and prevent prevalence of this parasite.