FISH PARASITES OF QATARI WATERS OF THE ARABIAN GULF: CURRENT STATUS WITH AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST

Abstract

The present study is a recent attempt to survey all the parasitological investigations of the marine fish inhabiting Qatari waters. These investigations were first embarked upon in the eighteenth century with the first published work in 1986 and followed up to 2002.The studies revealed that a total of 51 fish species has been investigated from the 136 known species in Qatari waters. The studies also revealed a total of 46species of fish parasites belonging to the 7 taxonomic groups. The encountered parasites included: one species of microsporidia, one species of myxosporea, 5 species of monogeneans, 33 species of digenetic trematodes, 3 species of cestodes, one species of nematodes and 2 species of acanthocephalans. No parasitic crustacea have been encountered in the studies. Seven new species were recorded among Qatari fish during this period. The anisakid nematode larvae is the only group that is found to be harmful to public health. Some groups like trypanorhynchan cestode were found to have a negative impact on the quality and marketing of the infected fish. Futhermore, monogeneans were found to have a severe inflammatory effects on the host fish and is likely to have a potential threat to future proposed aqualculture industry in the state of Qatar