Prevalence of Asian fish tapeworm Bothriocephalus in grass carp in Dongting Lake of Hunan province, subtropical China.

ABSTRACT

We investigated the prevalence of Asian fish tapeworm Bothriocephalus infection in grass carp in Dongting Lake of Hunan province, subtropical China between August 2014 and October of 2015. A total of 2534 fish samples from four representative administrative regions in Hunan province, subtropical China were examined for the presence of Bothriocephalus using helminthological approach. The overall prevalence of Bothriocephalus in grass carp was 6.6% (167/2534). The prevalence of Bothriocephalus in grass carp was higher in summer (10.0%) and spring (7.0%) than in autumn (6.0%) and winter (3.3%) (P<0.01). The highest prevalence of Bothriocephalus was found in grass carp with body weight 0.5infection was in summer (23-104), and least in winter (1-32). The present survey revealed the prevalence of Bothriocephalus in grass carp in Dongting Lake of Hunan province, subtropical China. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Bothriocephalus prevalence in grass carp in China.