A tale of Mundeswari River: unfolding endo-helminth biodiversity and seasonal variation

Fresh water fishes carry heavy infection of helminth parasites. Infection of these parasites may result poor growth, postpone sexual maturity and mortality of fishes, and cause human and animal diseases. This study recorded seasonal variations in gastrointestinal parasites found in fishes collected from the Mundeswari River, Hooghly, West Bengal, India. Total 1368 fishes were examined in four different seasons, namely Winter (December, January, February), Summer (March, April, May), Monsoon (June, July, August), Post monsoon (September, October, November) during December 2017–November 2021. Season wise abundance of four types of endo-helminthes namely Acanthocephala, Nematode, Trematode and Cestode, were recorded. The results indicated that climatic conditions are directly or indirectly influenced the intensity of parasitic infection and among the seasons the intestines or body cavity of fishes were recorded high parasitic infection during the winter season as compared to summer, monsoon and post monsoon.