Morphological survey of the helminth parasites in the abdominal cavity and eyes of Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi and Brbus grypus from shadegan wetland of khuzestan province

Shadegan wetland is one of the most important natural resources of Khuzestan in terms of richness. This wetland is an important habitate for many types of aquatic species(freshwater species and salty water species). Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi and Brbus grypus are among the most valuable species and resistant to environmental adverse conditions, so that they live easily in warm waters with low oxygen content. This study was conducted to investigate the helminth parasites of the abdominal cavity organs, gastrointestinal tract and eyes of these two species of fish in shadegan wetland. In this survey in a few steps 100 pieces of Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi and 100 pieces  of Brbus grypus, randomly and without considering a specific season, was prepared and transferred to aquatic laboratory, faculty of veterinary, shahid chamran university of ahvaz. Separated parasites of fish stabilized in 70% alcohol and then identified with identification keys. Identified parasites in this survey were include: Diplostomum spathaceum from eyes and Varelacreptotrema, Contracaecum, Anisakis, Neoechinorhynchus, Bothriocephalidae and khawia fromgastrointestinal tract. In this survey the variety of helminth parasites was higher in Brbus grypus and the severity of infection in fish was relatively low except in the case of Neoechinorhynchus. According to the results, the most helminth  parasites infection was Diplostomum spathaceum (31%).