Role Of Atherina Species In Transmitting Some Parasitic Disease To Man

from this study it could be concluded that Atherina fish (marineand fresh water Atherina sp.) harbored different types of larval helminthparasites including trematode metacercariae, anisakid larvae andplerocercoid larvae of Pseudophylidae family. Also, the overall prevalenceof helminth larvae was higher in fresh water Atherina than that in marinespecies. Fresh water Atherina sp. exhibited a higher infection rate withencysted metacercariae than observed in marine water Atherina, whileanisakid and plerocercoid larvae were only recovered from marine waterAtherina fish.The recovered metacercariae were developed, after experimentalinfection of puppies, into adult worms of five trematode species belongingto 4 families of Heterophyidae, Haplorchidae, Prohemistomatidae andEchinostomatidae. All of these recovered trematodes have a zoonoticimportance. Additionally, Atherina fish showed higher occurrence ofmetacercariae in summer season followed by spring and winter seasonssuggesting the influence of environmental and climatic factors on theprevalence of these helminth larvae in Atherina fish.Collectively, this study reflected the role of Atherina sp. as apotential reservoir for dissemination of such zoonotic helminth larvae.It could also be concluded that different treatment processesapplied to infected Atherina fish such as addition of vinegar, marinationand freezing could , to some extent, inactivate anisakid larvae found inmuscles and viscera of marine Atherina fish. The study recommended that freezing of Atherina fish at -20°C for 24 hours will kill all infective larvae.