Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVI, Issue 1
Written by Diana KIRIN, Radoslava ZAHARIEVA, Petya ZAHARIEVA
During 2019-2021, six specimens of pontic shad (Alosa immaculata Bennett, 1835); family Clupeidae were examined for parasites. The specimens were collected from three biotopes (Kudelin, Yasen, and Koshava) located in the section of the Danube River in the northwestern part of Bulgaria. Infection with 3 species of helminths was found – 1 species of the class Trematoda (Lecithaster confusus Odhner, 1905); 1 species of the class Acanthocephala (Pomphorhynchus laevis (Zoega in Müller, 1776) Porta, 1908) and 1 species of the class Nematoda (Hysterothylacium gadi aduncum (Rudolphi, 1802) Deardorff et Overstreet, 1981 (larvae)). Ecological indices of the found helminth species were examined. The purpose of the study is to provide new data on the helminth fauna of the pontic shad from the freshwater ecosystem of the Danube River in Bulgaria. Al. immaculata is a new host for one endohelminth species (L. confusus). Two of the investigated biotopes (Koshava and Yasen) are new habitats for the found endohelminths in pontic shad.
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