PARASITIC DISEASES

OF THE FISH
Metazoan parasites

Regnum:
Subregnum:
Phyllum:
Class:
Class:
Class:
Phyllum:
worms)
Phyllum:
Phyllum:
Class:
Phyllum:
Class:

Animalia
Metazoa
Plathelminthes (flatworms)
Monogenea
Digenea (digenetic trematodes)
Cestoda (tapeworms)
Acanthocephala (spiny-headed
Nematoda (round worms)
Annelida
Hirudinea (leech)
Arthropoda
Crustacea

Monogeneoses piscium
Monogeneoses of Fish (skin
and gill flukes)

common parasites of the skin and

gills, marine and freshwater fishes,
hermafrodites, host specific, oviparous
or viviparous, more than 1500 species
monogeneans possess posterior organ
of attachment haptor, armed with
hooks or suckers (clamps)
HK
M

hooks
mouth
OH
opistohaptor
IN
intestine
PRO prohaptor
OV
ovary
TE
testis

family: Dactylogyridae dactylogyrosis

predominantly gill parasites,oviparous,
anteriorly one or more pairs of eyespots,
one pair of central hooks,14 marginal
hooks, 0,2 2 mm long,
D.extensus,vastator, crassus,anchoratus
minutus,macracanthus,lamellatus,etc.)

a adult worm , b egg , c

oncomiracidium
d free swimming

family:Gyrodactylidae gyrodactylosis
worldwide parasites of the skin, fins, gills,
viviparous, pair central and 16 peripherall
hooks, 0,3 1,0 mm long (G.katharineri
,anquillae ,cyprini ,truttae , medius,
salmonis, salaris ,etc.)

family:Diplozoidae - twin worms

X-shaped body, gill parasites, oviparous, 3
7mm long, (Diplozoon paradoxum
,Eudiplozoon nipponicum)

A - host
B egg
C oncomiracidium
D diporpa
E fusion of diporpa
F adult

symptoms:skin cloudiness ,small blood spo

focal reddening ,hemorrhages ,deep skin w
eroded fins ,epithelial hyperplasia of gill ,su

Trematodoses piscium
Trematodoses of Fish
(digenean fluke/trematode/
endoparasites,infection)
hermafrodites, adult

worms usualy 1 -30 mm, about 1700

species of adult infect fish, life cycle
involve one or three hosts to complete
their life cycle, adult
stage is parasitic in
vertebrates,
fish may serve as
the second intermediate
hosts or as definitive hosts

Adult stages digeneans

Rhipidocotyle illense (1 mm, intestine, pike, pikeperch, perch)
Bucephalus polymorphus (1,5 mm, intestine, pikeperch, perch)
Allocreadium carprarum (1,3 2,3 mm, intestine,
carp)
Azygia lucii (35 mm, stomach, pike, burbot, perch)
Clinostomum complanatum(3 8 mm, muscles,
cichlids)
Crepidostomum farionis (4 mm, intestine, salmonids)
symptoms:adult
Sanguinicola
inermis (1 mm, blood vessels, heart,
intestinal trematodes
cold and
water fish common, bighead, grass
notwarm
pathogenic,
carp, blood
rainbow,
brook trout)
flukescutthroat,
damage
gills, suffocation, of fish - blood flukes
Sanguinicolosis
thrombosis, tissue
necrosis, massive
mortalities
A
testis
B-

a eggs
b
miracidium
c snail
d
cercarium
e adult

Infections by metacercarie

Diplostomum spathaceum, Posthodiplostomum

cuticola, Tylodelphis clavata, Metagonimus
yokogawai, Opisthorchis viverrini, Opisthorchis
felineus, Clonorchis sinensis, Paragonimus
westermani, Heterophyes heterophyes, etc.

Diplostomosis (D.spathaceum)
A final host
B egg
C miracidium
D 1.intermediate host
E cercaria
F 2.intermediate host
G metacercaria

symptoms:cercariae penetrate
through the gills and migrate via
the blod system to the eye s,uni
or bilateral blindness, cataracts,
exophthalmus, emaciation, dark
structure of adult
colour
digenean

Postodiplostomosis (Posthodiplostomum
cuticola), black
spot disease

A metacercaria
B metacercaria encyst in
the skin
(hyperpigmentation host
reaction)

A final host
B eggs
C miracidium
D 1.intermediate
host
E cercaria
F

ZOONOSIS
Metagonimosis (Metagonimus yokogawai)

Route of infection and migra

ZOONOSIS
Clonorchosis (Clonorchis sinensis)

1 eggs
2 1.intermediate host
3 cercariae
4 cercaria sheds the
tail
and attaches the fish
5 metacercaria in the
muscle
of 2.intermediate
host

1 metacercaria swallowed
with fish
2 small intestine
3 bile duct
4 gall bladder
5 bile duct

ZOONOSIS
Heterophyes infection (Heterophyes
heterophyes, H.nocens, H.continua, H.dispar)

Cestodoses piscium
Cestodoses of Fish
(tapeworms)

endoparasites of digestive tract as

adults or viscera and musculature as a
larvae, hermafrodites, life cycle one or
two intermediate hosts, fish can be an
intermediate host, definite host, or both
scolex (attachment organ) provide with
suckers, hooks, grooves, spines,
glandular areas
body (strobila) is subdivided into a
number of segments (proglottids)

Caryophyllaeus fimbriceps (15 - 25mm, carp, tench,

catfish )
Khawia sinensis (40 - 170mm, carp, catfish )
Triaenophorus nodulosus ,T.crassus (200 - 400mm,
pike)
Cyathocephalus truncatus (trout, grayling, sturgeon)
Bothriocephalus acheilognathi (150 200mm, carp)
Proteocephalus neglectus (100 150mm, trout,
grayling)
Life cycles of fish parasitic cestodes and
Ligula intestinalis (700mm, fish eating birds)
intermediate hosts (cyclops,diaptomus,tub
Diphyllobothrium latum (10 12 m, fish eating
mammals)

Ligulosis (Ligula
intestinalis)

a.
b.
c.
d.

egg
coracidium
1.intermediate host
2.intermediate host with
plerocercoid
e. final host

symptoms:peritoneal adhesion,
pressure
atrophy of the liver, gonads and
body wall
musculature, growth retardation,
abdominal distension, anorexia

ZOONOSIS
Diphyllobothriosis (Diphyllobothrium
latum)

mal
e

female

Nematodoses piscium
Nematodoses of Fish
(roundworms)

worldwide distributed, gonochorist,

oviparous or viviparous, development
is direct or indirect, fish are definite,
intermediate or
paratenic host,
ontogenesis of
nematodes runs as
metamorphosis
involving four larval
stages (L1 L4)

Raphidascaris acus (20-25 mm, pike, burbot, trout, perch,

Oligochaeta or Copepoda, fish, intestine, pyloric caeca,
liver )
Cucullanus truttae (13-15 mm, trout, intestine, pyloric
caeca )
Camallanus sp. (5-10 mm, perch, pike, pikeperch, guppy,
Cyclop, intestine )
Cystidicola farionis (15-30 mm, trout, swimbladder )
Anguillicola crassus (23-45 mm, eel, swimbladder,
Copepoda )
Capillaria sp., Pseudocapillaria sp. (10-20 mm, discus,
angelfish,cichlids)
Philometra sp.(10-30 mm, carp, body cavity )

Capillariosis (Capillaria sp.,Pseudocapillaria

sp.)

symptoms: loss of
appetite and emaciation,
reduced activity,enteritis,
light and dark faecal
segments,dark colour,
mortality

ZOONOSIS
Anisakiasis (Anisakis sp.,Pseudoterranova
sp.,Contracaecum sp.)

ZOONOSIS
Gnathostomiasis (Gnathostoma spinigerum
,G.hispidum)

third stage larva L3

the males are

smaller
(11 25
mm) than females
(25 54 mm) and
possess
red tail

head of Gnathostoma sp.

copepod with L2 larva

egg

Acanthocephaloses piscium
Acanthocephaloses of Fish
(spiny /thorny/-headed
worms)

cylindrical worms with trunk, neck and

retractile proboscis carrying hooks,
about 400 species affecting intestine of
freshwater and marine fishes
sexes are separate (gonochorist),
development involves one intermediate
host microcrustacean (amphipods,
copepods, ostracods)

Neoechinorhynchus rutili (2-5mm, chub, trout, other

fish, ostracoda)
Pomphorhynchus laevis (10mm, chub, eel, other fish,
gammarus)
Echinorhynchus truttae (10-20mm, trout,
gammarus)
gammarus with
Acanthocephalus anguillae (10mm, chub, pike,
three larvae of
Pomporhynchus sp
perch, Asellus sp.)
Acanthocephalus lucii (5mm, perch, chub, eel, other
fish, Asellus sp.)

symptoms:
malnutrition,inflamation
and perforation of intes
haemorrhages, emaciat

Hirudineosis piscium
Hirudineosis of Fish (fish
leech)

dorso ventrally flattened hermafrodites

possess anterior and posterior suckers
parasite on skin, gills, fins and oral cavity
of marine and freshwater fish, not host
specific
direct life cycle, eggs are included in pack
of 1-200 into a cocoon, adults transmit
viruses, bacteria and haemoparasites

Hemiclepsis marginata (25 mm)

Piscicola geometra (35 mm)
Cystobranchus respirans (40 mm)
Johanssonia arctica (29 mm)
Calliobdella vivida (40 mm)
Piscicola salmositica (40 mm)

symptoms:anemia, pale
gills, small red or white
lesions on skin, small
bleeding ulcers,
subcutaneous
hemorrhage , erosion,
emaciation, secondary
invasion by bacteria and
fungi

Arthropodoses piscium
Arthropodoses of Fish

about 2000 species are parasites, attack

marine and freshwater fish, ectoparasites
(skin, gills, fins), serious pathogen of
commercial and wild fish , cause unsightly
changes in the flesh, mortality
life cycle comprises 1-5 free-living nauplius
stages, 1-5 free-living or parasitic
copepodit (chalimus) stages, 1 pre -adult,
and finally the adult parasite

Ergasiloses of Fish
subclass:Copepoda
family:Ergasilidae (E.sieboldi, E.lizae,
E.luciopercarum, E.nerkae, E.labracis,
E.briani , etc.)
65 species on freshwater fish, 33 on marine
fish, widely distributed gill parasites 1,5-3,0
mm long, only fertilized females are
parasitic

symptoms:exsanquination ,
haemorrhage , inflamation,
atrophy of gill filament,
epithelial hyperplasia,
secondary infections, weak
swimming, dark colour,
suffocation, mortality

Lernaeoses of Fish
subclass:Copepoda
genus:Lernaea - anchor worms (Lernaea
cyprinacea, L.polymorpha, L.cruciata )
over 40 species, worldwide distribution,
common pests in freshwater aquaculture of
cyprinids, salmonids and other fish,
particularly pathogenic to small fish, high
mortality, attack the superficial layers of
the body musculature

symptoms:haemorrha
ges, muscle necrosis,
inflammation, skin
lesions, ulcers,
mortality

Arguloses of Fish
subclass:Branchiura
genus:Argulus fish lice (Argulus foliaceus,
A.japonicus, A.coregoni)
about 100 species, up to 1 cm in length,
attack skin and fins of many freshwater fish
throughout the world, adult can survive for
several days away from fish, cause mass
mortalities

symptoms: infected fish are lethargic, stop feeding, fish try to

remove the parasite by rubbing againts the substrate, frayed fins,
haemorrhagic spots, inflammation, secondary infections, mortality

family: Caligidae (subclass:Copepoda)

Lepeophtheirus salmonis (sea lice) main
parasites of sea-caged Atlantic salmon
Caligus
elongatus cosmopolitan species, has been
found on over 80 species of fish

genus: Lernaeocera (subclass: Copepoda)

widespread parasite of marine fish (cod,
tunny, sole, etc.), attach to the surface of
the skin and gills,
Lernaeocera branchialis, L.lusci, L.minuta

genus:

Salmincola (subclass:Copepoda)
S. californiensis, S.salmonea, S.edwardsii,
(gill maggot)

genus: Sphyrion (subclass:Copepoda)

Sphyrion lumpi, S.laevigatum attack
muscle of many species of marine fish

family:

Cymothoidae, Gnathiidae
(subclas:Isopoda)
blood-feeding marine isopods, infest
gills, skin, buccal and gill cavities of many
species marine fish