Vol. 78 2026

ARTICLES

Molecular Identification of the Parasitic Nematode Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) hellichi (Śrámek, 1901) (Rhabditida: Rhabdochonidae) in Cyprinid Fish from Southwestern Iran

Alireza Golchin Manshadi* & Mohamad Alipour

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*Department of Aquatic Animal health, Kaz. C, Islamic Azad University, Kazerun, Iran; E-mails: dr.golchin@iau.ac.ir; Alipour_m@iau.ac.ir

https://doi.org/10.71424/azb78.3.002931

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Abstract

The nematode genus Rhabdochona Railliet, 1916 (Rhabdochonidae) comprises numerous species, mostly intestinal parasites of freshwater fishes in all zoogeographical regions. To identify the nematodes of fish from Shapour River and Seyed Hosein Spring (Fars Province, Iran), 38 fish individuals of four species (Alburnus mossulensis, Cyprinion macrostomum, Paracapoeta trutta and Garra rufa) were examined for the presence of nematode parasites in the digestive tract. The results showed the presence of one nematode species of the genus Rhabdochona from the intestine of the examined fish, with prevalence of 11.11% in C. macrostomum, 80.0% in A. mossulensis and 40.0% for G. rufa. In P. trutta, no nematode infection was found. The samples of Rhabdochona were examined by nucleotide sequence analysis of small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) and showed a similarity of over 98% between our samples and the sample of Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) hellichi (Śrámek, 1901) Chitwood, 1933 (NCBI GenBank accession number JF803913.1) reported by Moravec & Cernotikova (2011).

Key words

Cyprinid fish, PCR, Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) hellichi, Shapour River, SSU rRNA gene

How to Cite
Golchin Manshadi A. & Alipour M.2026. Molecular Identification of the Parasitic Nematode Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) hellichi (Śrámek, 1901) (Rhabditida: Rhabdochonidae) in Cyprinid Fish from Southwestern Iran. Acta zoologica bulgarica 78.

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