identification of parasitic infections of the persian gulf fishes and its economic losses effect

The persian gulf is one of the most economic and sensitive water area in the world having multiple species of edible fishes as sources of animal protein and industrial fishes for pharmaceutical, industrial and medical uses. identifying the parasitic pathogens of persian gulf fishes is of particular importance and can lead to reducing economic losses and improving public health. the sorts of kafshek and shir fishes are the main items in the basket of aquatic products consumed by the people of khuzestan. the present research was conducted to identify the helminthes of gastrointestinal tract and abdominal area of fishes caught from the persian gulf. materials and methods: the fish type testing and sampling was done in the spring and summer of 2019. the systematic identification of parasitic/fishes species was done in the parasitology laboratory of medicine school, ahvaz jundishapur university of medical sciences, ahvaz, iran. findings: flounder spp., belonging to the pleuronectidae fish family, and scomberomorus commerson from the tuna family were identified. two types of cestode and nematode anisakis spp were isolated. results: none of the 20 scomberomorus commerson contained worms. out of 20 flounder spp samples, 10 samples (50%) had worms. anisakis nematode worms were found in all 10 infected samples, in addition to anisakis, cestodes were also observed in 5 cases. therefore, anisakis infection in flounder: (50%) and cestode infection in flounder spp (25%). conclusion: considering that parasitic diseases are an effective factor in reducing the amount of fish production, preventing the spread of diseases caused by parasites will play an important role in increasing the productivity of fish, especially in fish breeding workshops. in this regard, by knowing the existing parasites and infected organs as well as sensitive fish, using the obtained results, it is possible to take basic prevention and fight, which will reduce fish losses and increase productivity. furthermore, parasitic infection could transfer to breeding farms making lots of economic damages, therefore, it is of great help in preventing of the spread of infection and can be effective in the next decisions to choose the right area to build marine fish breeding and breeding workshops.