FISH PARASITES IN VALASHT LAKE AND CHALNS RIVER

Fish parasites from Valasht Lake and Chalus River were studied in spring 2005 and summer 2006. Fish specimens were caught by hand net and transported to local laboratory alive. We found three protozoa species, Trichodina trutta and Ichthyophthirius multifiliis on Oncorhynchus mykiss; and Chilodonella hexastica on the skin of O. mykiss and Leuciscus cephalus. We also separated metazoan parasites from the fish in the two sampling sites that included Gyrodactylus derjavini infecting skin and gill of O. mykiss, G. sp 1 infecting Alburnoides bipunctatus, G. sp2 from Barbus capito and G. sp3 from Capoeta capoeta gracilis and Tetraonchus menonteron that infested the gills of Esox lucius. Other parasites which we found were Myxobolus saidovi from the gills of C. c. gracilis, Bothriocephalus gowkongensis from intestine of Barbus capito, Raphidascaris acus from intestine of E. lucius and finally Argulus foliaceus from skin of Chalcalburnus chalco ides. This is a first time report of a new host, B. capito for Bothriocephalus gowkongensis and a new locality Chalus River for Myxobolus saidovi parasites. Furthermore, with the exception of Tetraonchus menonteron which have been reported before, the rest of the parasites of the fishes from Valasht Lake are reported for the first time.