Prevalence and intensity of Paracamallanus species infection in farmed and wild catfish

Abstract

A total of 108 randomly selected farmed and wild Clarias gariepinus (catfish) obtained from the upper Tana river basin were examined for intestinal helminthes between July 2007 and April 2008. Over fifty two per cent (52.8 %) had Paracamallanus species worms in the gastrointestinal tract. Wild cafish had 37 % compared to farmed ones at 15.7 % (p < 0.05); prevalence in adult fish was 34.3 % while young catfish had 18.5 % (p > 0.05). There was no difference in Paracamallanus spp. infection between the male and female catfish (p > 0.05). A mean worm intensity of 3.0 with a range of 1 - 41 worms per fish was recorded. The worm load per fish was 1.7, 4.4, 3.5, 2.2, 2.3 and 3.7 worms in farmed, wildfish, adult, young, female and male catfish, respectively. Worm load differed between farmed and wild catfish (p < 0.05), but not between the sex and age groups (p > 0.05). This study reports the occurrence of the Paracamallanus species in catfish for the first time in Kenya.

Key words: Clarias gariepinus, Paracamallanus species, prevalence, intensity and Tana river basin).