Journal of Fisheries and Life Sciences

Author(s): Alagarsamy Sakthivel, Ayyaru Gopalakrishnan, Periyasamy Selvakumar

Abstract: The present study was undertaken to analysis the occurrence, pathology and histochemical investigation of acanthocephalan infested fishes. The adult worm proboscis was globular and the length and width ranging between 2.3–6.1 mm and 0.6–1.1 mm, respectively. Thunnus albacares was the major host in terms of prevalence and intensity among the other fish species examined for infestation and seasonal variation of Neoechinorhynchus agili over two year study period. The higher prevalence of infested fishes T. albacares (43.7 %±1.1) and Coryphaena hippurus (41.6%±1.5) were observed. Mean intensities ranged between 5.8 and 10.8 worms per fish. Histopathologically, the infested intestinal mucosal epithelium, stratum granulosum, lamina propria, muscular and serosa layers were highly degraded. The lesions were infiltrating with basophil-like inflammatory cells. The parasite-affected lesions were histochemically positive for alcian blue, azo dye, toluidine blue and oil red O. The histological findings revealed that the pathogenicity was depends on the intensity of the parasitic burden and depth of the length of proboscis penetration into the host intestine tissues. Long live parasite increases the cellular infiltration, necrosis and it may leads to the tumorous conditions of the infested hosts.