Prevalence of Gastro-Intestinal Parasites in Clarias gariepinus Caught in the Gwagwalada River, Gwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria

This paper reports the prevalence of gastro-intestinal parasites in Clarias gariepinus caught in the Gwagwalada River, Abuja, north central Nigeria. Sixty specimens of wild catfish, C. gariepinus were obtained fresh from fishermen who caught then from the Gwagwalada River during the rainy season months of June to July. They were dissected, the stomach and intestines contentseviscerated and prepared following standard parasitological procedures on glass slides and thereafter, viewed under x400 magnification for the presence of gastro-intestinal parasites. The parasites were identified using the pictorial atlas of parasitic infections and diseases of African fish (1980). On the whole, 27 out of the 60 fish examined were infected with parasites, thus giving a prevalence rate of 45.00%. The protozoa Toxoplasma gondii recorded the highest prevalence rate (34.77%), followed by the cestode, Bothriocephalus gowkongenesis (18.87%). The highest prevalence rate and parasite intensity were also recorded in the 21 – 25 cm length group (20.00% and 13.17 respectively). The 501 – 951 g weight group had the highest prevalence rate (53.64%) and parasite intensity (13.50) and was followed by the 50 -500 g group that recorded 28.48% prevalence rate and 9.56 parasite intensity. The females recorded higher parasite prevalence rate (59.26%) but lower parasite intensity (10.88) than the males. It was concluded that wild C. gariepinus from the Gwagwalada River are moderately infected with gastro-intestinal parasites and that the young and growing fishes harbored more parasites than the older ones.