Effect of temperature on the prevalence of different parasites in Cirrhinus mrigala Hamilton of West Bengal

A study has been done to find out the prevalence of different kinds of parasites in Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton 1822) during 2010–2011. It has been found that the temperature variation affects some parasitic infestation over the fish species. It was found that ciliophoran and crustacean parasites are more prevalent from November to February whereas the myxozoan and monogenean parasites are more prevalent from January to April. Considering temperature variation throughout the year it has been inferred that most of the parasitic infections were found between November and April when the temperature range varies from 19 to 26 °C. So from the study it can be concluded that lower temperature elicits the parasitic growth in fishes while the higher temperature retards the growth.