Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Biology, Science College, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.+
2
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt.
3
Department of Biology, Science College, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
4
Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
Transmission of trematode cercariae depends mainly on the presence of marine snails as an intermediate host for zoonotic diseases. Parasitic infections in marine snails are poorly discussed. The current study was aimed to investigate the collected snails and determine the prevalence of larval trematode infections as well as identifying the cercarial types from January to December 2016. A total of 549 marine snails belonging to the genus, Nerita were randomly collected from Obhor bay, Red Sea at Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. To harvest cercariae, snails were exposed to artificial light and the non-shedding snails were crushed. Eight distinct cercariae were identified as well as their sporocysts. Seven of them were found belonging to non-virgulate xiphidiocercaria: Ascorhytis charadriformis, cercariae, Haematoloechus similis, Litorina saxatilis V, Litorina saxatilis VII, Maritrema lingulla, Microphallus similis, Microphalliae and one ocellate furcocercous. The most prevalent type of cercariae was Maritrema lingulla (16.96%). The described cercariae are part of a diverse group of about eight trematode species inhabiting marine Nerita snails as first intermediate hosts. Such studies can assist
in collecting data on disease distribution in the sympatric fish and the configuration of trematodes transmission by snails and eventually, in the avoidance and control of the subsequent fish and human diseases.
Keywords
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