Anuprasanna Vankara*, Srinivasa Kalyan Chadamala, Hemalatha Mannela

Dept of Zoology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, 516 003, India.

*Correspondence | AnuprasannaVankara, Department of Animal Sciences, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, India; Email: dr.anu@yogivemanauniversity.ac.in, annuprasanna@gmail.com

Abstract
From the coastal belt of Nellore District, Bay of Bengal, Andhra Pradesh 109 specimens of Chylloscyllium indicum Gmelin, 1789 were collected in 2014-2015. Only, 28 (25.6%) specimens were parasitized with at least one or more tetraphyllid cestodes. A total of 125 tetraphyllid cestodes of the 3 genus Acanthobotrium, Orectolobicestus and Yorkeria were obtained from the spiral intestines of the host i.e Acanthobotrium chiloscylli, Orectolobicestus chiloscylli and Yorkeria indica. The monthly population dynamics and the seasonal dynamics of the parasites were analysed to determine the recruitment of parasites. The infracommunity of C.indicum was predominated by Orectolobicestus chiloscylli (75.2%), followed by Acanthobothrium chiloscylli (12.8%), Yorkeria indica (8.8%) and Yorkeria parva (3.2%). The frequency distribution of parasites and their distribution pattern was analysed. There is no core and secondary species in the parasitic community of the host and all the four species occupy the rank of satellite species. The effect of host size on the prevalence of infection were investigated and found that medium sized fish (30-51cm) were frequently infected. The impact of sex on the overall parasitization of cestodes was also analysed by Mann-whitney U test (Z = -0.59, P1=0.277; P2 = 0.555) revealed that there was no influence of host sex on the parasitization. Values of Jaccard’s Index (JI) showed interspecific associations between each pair of parasite species. The interspecific assosciation between Y.indica - Y. parva pair (JI= 0.50); O.chiloscylli - A. chiloscylli pair (JI= 0.19) and A. chiloscylli - Y.indica pair (JI= 0.154) explained common niche of these parasites i.e., spiral intestine within the host.

Keywords | Chylloscyllium indicum, Tetraphyllidea, Orectolobicestus, Acanthobothrium, Yorkeria

Editor | Muhammad Nauman Zahid, Quality Operations Laboratory, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.

Received | September 01, 2015; Revised | December 10, 2015; Accepted | December 12, 2015; Published | December 18, 2015

Citation | Vankara A, Chadamala SK, Mannela H (2015). Aspects of the ecology of tetraphyllid cestodes from the slender bamboo shark, Chiloscyllium indicum Gmelin, 1789 (Orectolobiformes: Hemiscylliidae) from Nellore Coast, Bay of Bengal, India. S. Asian J. Life Sci. 3(2): 42-50.

ISSN | 2311–0589

Copyright © 2015 Vankara et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.