Dr. Murai Éva - Gubányi András szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 28. (Budapest, 1995)

© Hungarian Natural History Museum Hungarian Society of Parasitologists Parasit. hung., 28: 57-62, 1995 Occurrence of philometrid nematodes in barboid fishes of River Karun, Iran Kálmán MOLNÁR

1 and Jamileh PAZOOKl

2 1

Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, I hi 581 Budapest, P. O. Box 18, Hungary 1 Iranian Fisheries Research and Training Organization, Department of Fish Diseases, P. O Box 14155-6116 Tehran, Iran (Received 15 September, 1995) Abstract: During a study on some Barbus species of the Mesopotamian fauna region (the southwestern part of Iran) between 1992 and 1994, philometrid nematodes were found in the abdominal cavity and under the serous membranes of the swimbladder of Barbus luteus and Barbus sharpeyi, respectively. Gravid females from Barbus luteus showed great resemblance to Philometra spp. known from the abdominal cavity of cyprinid fishes. Males and juvenile females from Barbus sfiarpeyi, however, distinctly differ from the known species by their sclerotized organs. Key words: Nematoda of fishes, Philometra, Barbus sharpeyi. Barbus luteus, Iran. INTRODUCTION Philometrid nematodes are common and frequent parasites of freshwater and marine fishes. The systematics of philometrid nematodes is based on the morphological characteristics of female worms, and for most of the known species only gravid females have been described. On this basis Moravec and Shaharom-Harrison (1989) distinguished 11 genera in the family Philometridae. Among genera belonging to Philometridae, members of the genus Philometra are the most common and widespread. Reports on philometrids found in Iranian fishes were published by Ebrahimzadeh and Nabawi (1975) and Moghainemi and Abasi (1992). At the same time, there have been more reports on the occurrence of Philometra spp. in the neighbouring Iraqi waters belonging to the River Tigris water system. In that region, Philometra spp. were found in two Barbus species. Herzog (1969) was the first to find female specimens of a Philometra sp. in the abdominal cavity of Barbus luteus (Heckel, 1843) then Ali et al. (1987) reported on the occurrence of a Philometra sp. from the abdominal cavity of Barbus grypus (Heckel, 1843), which they identified with Ph. abdominalis Nybelin, 1928. The present paper reports the occurrence of gravid females of a Philometra sp. in the abdominal cavity of B. luteus (Heckel, 1843) and of males and retarded females under the swimbladder serosa of B. sharpeyi (Günther, 1874). The specimens found in B. luteus and B. sharpeyi are considered to belong to one, presumably new species.