A study on prevalence of helminths infections in commercially valuable fish of the Persian Gulf, Iran

Due to importance of the Persian Gulf fishes as main protein sources، study of fish helminth infections are the most indispensible measures. This study was conducted to identify helminthes infection on five fish species (n=100) in the Persian Gulf including، Torpedo sinusperisici، Dasyatis bennetti، Alectis indicus، Rastrelliger kanagurtta، Otolithes ruber from Bandar abbas port in summer 2012. The helminths were fixed in 70% ethanol، stained and identified. The overall prevalence was 16%. The identified helminths were as follow: digenetic trematode (Stephanostomum sp.، with a frequency of 1%)، cestode (Uncibilocularis sp.، 1%; Tetragonocephalum sp.، 2%; Grillotia sp.، 4%)، and nematode (Raphidascaris sp.، 3% and Anisakis sp.، 5%). The highest infection rate was belonging to Anisakis sp. (5%). There were significant differences between prevalence and weight of the infected fish. In the present study، there was low helminths infection in the fish flesh، partcularly in Otolithes ruber.