Diversity and Indicator Species of Endoparasites of Fish Inhabiting Beni Haroun Dam, Algeria

This study was carried out to examine the parasitic fauna of four fish species inhabiting the Beni Haroun Dam: Abramis brama, Cyprinus carpio, Carassius carassius and Luciobarbus callensis (family Cyprinidae) and to describe the diversity of the parasite communities. Eleven species of helminth parasites were found in the gastrointestinal tracts of the examined fish specimens. They belonged to two classes, of which nine species were nematodes (Hysterothylacium sp., Contracaecum sp., Contracaecum rudolphii, C. osculatum, Buckleynema buckleyi, Rhabdochona sp., Anisakis sp., Pseudocapillaria tomentosa and Raphidascaris acus) and two species were cestodes (Schyzocotyle acheilognathi and Ligula intestinalis). The diversity indices, including species richness and Shannon-Weaver index, have shown that Carassius carassius has the highest parasite diversity. On the other hand, Luciobarbus callensis has the highest Simpson and evenness indices. The values of these indices vary across seasons. The calculation of the indicator value (IndVal) enables the deduction of a difference in parasite specificity between the host species throughout the year. Parasite diversity fluctuates quite considerably throughout the year in all four fish species acting as hosts. The indicator species method identified seven parasite species with significant indicator values for the “host fish” criterion and three species with significant indicator values for the “seasons” criterion.