Checklist of the parasites of fishes of Bangladesh

This checklist summarizes information on the parasites of Bangladeshi fishes contained in the world literature dating from the earliest known records (Southwell and Prashad, 1918a, b) to the end of 2000. Information is presented in the form of parasite-host and host-parasite lists. Included are 147 named species of parasites (not including 20 nomina nuda), distributed among the higher taxa as follows: Protozoa - 1, Myxozoa - 1, Trematoda - 55, Monogenea - 6, Cestoda - 23, Nematoda - 40, Acanthocephala - 17, Hirudinea - 1, Branchiura - 1, Copepoda - 1 and Isopoda - 1. Also included are many records of parasites not identified to species level.

The Parasite-Host List is organized on a taxonomic basis and provides information for each parasite species on the environment (fresh water, brackish water, marine), the location (site of infection) in or on its host(s), the species of host(s) infected, the known geographic distribution (by administrative division) in Bangladesh, and the published sources for each host and locality record. The Host-Parasite List is organized according to the taxonomy of the hosts, and includes for each host, the English language and local (Bengali) common names, environment (fresh water, brackish water, marine), status in Bangladesh (native or exotic), and information on the known distribution in Bangladesh of the parasites. Both lists are accompanied by remarks and footnotes, as warranted, giving specific information on points of systematics, nomenclature, possible misidentifications, introductions, pathogenicity, etc.

Citations are included for all references and a supplementary list of references contains other literature on Bangladeshi fish parasites. Parasite and host indices are included. The following new taxonomic combinations are made: Prosorhynchoides aspinosiensis (Bashirullah and Hafizuddin, 1971) n. comb. for Neobucephalopsis aspinosiensis Bashirullah and Hafizuddin, 1971; and Prosorhynchoides clupisomius (Bashirullah and Hafizuddin, 1976) n. comb. for Neobucephalopsis clupisomius Bashirullah and Hafizuddin, 1976.

The parasite fauna of fishes of Bangladesh remains poorly known. Parasites have been reported from only 85 of the 528 species of marine and freshwater fish occurring in the waters of Bangladesh. The situation is complicated by the large number of reports that are based on apparent misidentifications, the existence of a plethora of poorly described species, and the relatedness of the Bangladeshi fish parasite fauna to that of the larger Indian subregion, which is also poorly known for many of the same reasons.