OCCURRENCE OF PATHOGENIC MYXOSPOREA IN FRESH WATER FISH (Catla catla), WEST-GODAVARI DISTRICT, A.P, INDIA

Protozoans display an amazing variety of inter specific relationships among which parasitism is the most common and well documented in the class myxosporea of phylum myxospora. Fishes infected with myxosporean parasites become weak or paralyzed and their food intake reduces to great extent. The infection results in massive destruction of muscle tissues which results in white opaque, multiple cells hypertrophied tumour like structure. The pathogencity of the parasite on the host tissue has been studied using histochemical technique. The host fishes were obtained from the culture ponds around westgodavari. They were aintained in culture tanks in the laboratory and were exposed to infective spores periodically. The host fishes were regularly sacrificed after initial incubation of 15 days, to study the developmental stages and to understand the life cycle. The experimental infection studies coupled with the examination of fishes have shown that there is no secondary host. However it was noted that the infective spores need certain amount of ageing in an invertebrate which is the food of the fishes and known species of myxosporidean parasite of Catla catla were found in the tissues of gills and intestine viz., Myxobolus sp at two diverse habitats along the East coast of India namely Fresh water fish ponds from Pydichinthapadu and Chinakapavaram, West-Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India during Feb 2019 to Feb 2020.