A team of researchers of the department of zoology has found that a parasite, named Tetracotyl Wayanadensis, that lives in the internal organs of freshwater fish, blocks or reduces the host’s reproductive system and completely destroys the ovaries.
The study was led by Prof. P.K. Prasad, Head, Department of Zoology, Kannur University; research scholar P.J. Jithila; adjutant faculty, A.R. Sudha Devi; and P. Abaunza, a scientist at the Insituti Espanol de Ocerajografia in Spain.
The phenomenon in which parasites completely or partially disrupt the reproductive process of their hosts is called parasitic castration.
A two-year study of the freshwater fish, Aplocheilus lineatus, found that the parasite completely destroyed the ovaries at all stages of the fish.
This could adversely affect the reproductive process of the fish and even lead to their extinction, Mr. Prasad said.
Parasites are found in shrimps, crabs and mussels, but rarely in fish.
These types of parasites complete their life cycle in three or four organisms that are links in the food chain. The research team looked at how metacercaria larvae, a growth phase of the parasite, affects the reproductive process of freshwater fish. The discovery was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Parasitology International , published by Elsevier, an international publisher.
