Infection of freshwater fishes to helminth parasites in Gheshlagh basins, Kurdistan Province

A total of 300 freshwater fishes, belonging to nine species were collected from Gheshlagh basin. Sampling was carried out in the two stations namely river and dam Gheshlagh seasonally in the vicinity of Sanandaj city, Kurdistan Province from September 2016 to August 2017. In the present study were found three digenean trematode (Clinostomum complanatum, Posthodiplostomum sp. and Allocreadium sp.), two tapeworms (Khawia armenica and Schyzocotyle acheilognathi), two Monogenea (Dactylogyrus hypophthalmichthys and Paradiplozoon sp.) and an Acanthocephala (Pallisentis (Pallisentis) cholodkowskyi). The digenean parasites were isolated from the river, monognean parasites from the dam and the tapeworms and spiny-headed worm from both stations. The C. damascina was highly infected with parasites (6 species), followed by S. cephalus (4 species), A. mossulensis (3 species), C. trutta (2 species), B. lacerta (2 soecies), G. rufa (2 species), C. auratus (2 species) and H. molitrix (1 species). A total of 45% of fish were infected with parasites, and Posthodiplostomum sp., P. (P.) cholodkowskyi were the most prevalent (25.7% and 10.7%, respectively) and Schyzocotyle acheilognathi was scarce (0.3%). The highest mean abundance of infection was 0.63±2.3 (P. (P.) cholodkowskyi) and followed by 0.56±1.2 (Posthodiplostomum sp.) and the highest mean intensity of infection was 1.3±4.3 (P. (P.) cholodkowskyi) and 1.1±2.5 (Posthodiplostomum sp.). The prevalence and intensity of infection based on season and fish length were investigated. The present study is the first report of C. complanatum and Posthodiplostomum sp. from this region and the first report from their host species, C. damascina, A. mossulensis and G. rufa.