Seasonality Of The Monogenean From Some Perciform Fishes İn Iraqi Marine Waters

A total of 72 fishes, belonging to three species of order perciform fish: Acanthopagrus bifasciatus (Sparidae), Platax orbicularis and P. teira (Ephipidae), which were collected from Iraqi marine waters, during period October 2013 till July 2014. The results showed tow species of monogenean: Sprostoniella multitestis and Lamellodiscus sp. The study included the prevalence and intensity of fish parasites, where there appeared clear differences in respect to fish species, and showed significant differences at p≤ 0.05. The present study revealed that the highest prevalence (92.85%) of infection in P. teira and mean intensity (25.57) of infection in A. bifasciatus and showed the lowest prevalence (78.43%) in A. bifasciatus and mean intensity (9.33) in P. orbicularis. Significant (p≤ 0.05) differences were noticed in the infection of male (34) and female (25) fish with the parasite. Infection with these monogenean in general showed monthly variation, as it was high during November and January and low during December and June.