Diversity of Fish Parasites in Rivers and Lakes of Southern Western Siberia

The characteristics of the current species composition of fish parasites in water bodies in the south of Western Siberia are presented, and the safety of fisheries based on the presence of trematode larvae from the Opisthorchiidae and Diphyllobothiidae families, which cause diseases in humans, is assessed in fish. To obtain these data, 817 fish specimens of 14 species belonging to five families were examined from May to November 2015: Coregonidae (1 species), Thymallidae (1), Cyprinidae (8), Lotidae (1), and Percidae (3). Ectoparasites (crustaceans and leeches) and endoparasites (monogeneans, trematodes, and cestodes) were found in the examined fish from 11 lakes and four rivers in four regions (Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, and Omsk oblasts) in the south of Western Siberia. The species composition of trematodes is the most diverse. Metacercariae of the families Opisthorchiidae (genera Metorchis and Opisthorchis), Bucephalidae (genus Rhipidocotyle), Prohemistomatidae (genus Paracoenogonimus), and Diplostomidae (genera Diplostomum, Posthodiplostomum, and Tylodelphys) were detected. Two species, Opisthorchis felineus and Metorchis bilis, are dangerous to humans and domestic animals. No individuals infected with plerocercoids of the family Diphyllobotriidae, which are dangerous to humans and domestic animals, were found among the 101 specimens of predatory fish of the two species examined.