Two Fish Species Study Of The Parasitic Helminth Fauna Of Synodontis filamentosus (Boulenger, 1901) and Calamoichthys calabaricus (Smith, 1865) From Lekki Lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The parasitic helminth fauna of a fish Synodontis filamentosus and Calamoichthys calabaricus was investigated. A total of 100 specimens from each of the fish species (n= 200) was examined. The female specimens of S. filamentosus had a prevalence of 46% while the male specimens had a lower prevalence of 37.2%. No infection was recorded in the fish species C calabaricus. There was no single parasitic infection in all the specimens examined. The worm burden was high in S. filamentosus with male specimens recording ninety five helminths while the female specimens recorded two hundred and seventeen helminths in both single and mixed infections (single infection was 2% while multiple infections was 98%). The overall prevalence of parasitic infections in the two fish species is 42%. The length range for S filamentosus was 6.0 - 13.5cm while for C calamoichthys the length range was 21.5 – 34.0cm. The Caryophyllidea cestode, Wenyonia sp and a nematode, Raphidascaroides sp were recovered from the intestine of Synodontis filamentosus. The length range were 10.0cm and 28.0cm for S.filamentosus and C. calamoichthys respectively while the weight range for the two fish species was 37.0g and 32.0g respectively. Condition factor range was 2.07 – 5.93 and 0.07 – 0.23 in S. filamentosus and C. Calamoichthys respectively. Infection was more pronounced in the juveniles of Synodontis filamentosus and less pronounced in the adults .

 Keywords; Synodontis, Calabaricus,Wenyonia , helminth