Gut content studies of aquatic snail intermediate hosts of schistosomes in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Natural diets of Bulinus (P) globosus, Bulinus rohlfsi and Biomphalaria pfeifferi, gastropod intermediate hosts of the Schistosoma parasite were investigated by examining their gut content. It was found that the diet of B. globosus consisted of rotifers, various forms of algae, diatoms, macrophytic tissue and spore-like materials. The diet of B. pfeifferi was also similar but some of the food varied in species types suggesting omnivorous habit. Algae frequently predominated other items in the gut content of the all snail species, while macrophytic tissues were least frequently encountered. For each of the examined snail species, the quantity of material ingested varied slightly with the nature of habitat.

International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences Vol. 2(1) 2006: 47-54