SEASONAL VARIATION OF PARASITES OF FISHES IN LAKE CHARCHER WEST HARARGHE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Samples of fishes collected from Lake Charcher by using gillnets of various mesh sizes were examined for parasitic
infestation for three seasons named as rainy, post rainy and dry. A total of 431 samples were collected of which 383
were Oreochromis niloticus and 48 were Tilapia zilli. Total results showed 15.7% infection rate. The infection rate
of parasites encountered were Clinostomum sp (3.9%), Contracaecum sp. (8.8%) and Eustrongylides (3%). The
prevalence of parasite was high in post rainy season (29.2%) followed by rainy season (21.4%) and dry season
(4.9%). Among the parasites recorded in the present study, the clinostomatid digeneans and Contracaecum
nematodes could be medically important from public health point of view since the parasites can be transmitted to
humans by eating raw fish. Therefore, further studies should be made for identification of other zoonotically
important common fish parasites which might cause production loss in the fishery sector.