Original Research
Occurrence of Tetracampos ciliotheca and Proteocephalus glanduligerus in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) collected from the Vaal Dam, South Africa
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research | Vol 80, No 1 | a522 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v80i1.522
| © 2013 Grace Madanire-Moyo, Annemariè Avenant-Oldewage
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 14 September 2012 | Published: 07 March 2013
Submitted: 14 September 2012 | Published: 07 March 2013
About the author(s)
Grace Madanire-Moyo, Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus, South AfricaAnnemariè Avenant-Oldewage, Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus, South Africa
Abstract
Cestodes are parasitic flatworms that live in the digestive tract of vertebrates as adults and often in the liver, muscle, haemocoel, mesentery and brain of various animals as larval stages. To identify the cestodes infecting Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822 (sharptooth catfish) in the Vaal Dam, a total of 45 host specimens were collected with the aid of gill nets between October 2011, January and April 2012. The fish were sacrificed and examined for cestode parasites. Two adult cestodes, Tetracampos ciliotheca Wedl, 1861 (prevalence 86.7%, mean intensity = 15, n = 45) and Proteocephalus glanduligerus (Janicki, 1928) (prevalence 51.1%, mean intensity = 5, n = 45) were found in the intestines of the catfish. Both T. ciliotheca and P. glanduligerus are new locality records. There were statistically insignificant differences in the infection of the male and female C. gariepinu. Fish with standard length ranging from 40 cm – 54 cm (≥ 3 years) had the highest prevalence and mean intensity while those ranging from 10 cm – 24 cm (< 1 year) had the lowest prevalence and mean intensity for both cestodes. The study highlights the importance of changing feeding habits of C. gariepinus with age on the prevalence and mean intensity of the two gastrointestinal cestode parasites.
Keywords
Tetracampos ciliotheca; Proteocephalus glanduligerus; Clarias gariepinus; Vaal Dam
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Crossref Citations
1. Selected haematological changes in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) infected with a Trypansosoma sp. from the Vaal Dam, South Africa
Maryke L. Ferreira, Annemarie Avenant-Oldewage
Onderstepoort J Vet Res vol: 80 issue: 1 year: 2013
doi: 10.4102/ojvr.v80i1.572