Objective of research. To study the species composition of the parasite fauna and the infestation rate of the spiny loach Cobitis taenia Linnaeus, 1758 from Saratov Reservoir. Materials and methods. The material was collected in the Mordovo-Kol’tsovsky area of the Reservoir (the middle part of the reservoir) in 2009 and 2014–2015. Fishing was carried out by a hydrobiological net. Totally 47 individuals of spiny loach were investigated by the method of full parasitological autopsy. Collection, fixation and office studies were carried out using the standard technique; diagnostics of species composition of parasites — by identification guides. To estimate the rate of fish invasion, we used the common parasitological indices: extensity of invasion, intensity of invasion and the index of abundance of parasites. Results and discussion. 7 species of parasites belonging to 5 classes: Monogenea — 1, Cestoda — 1, Trematoda — 3, Nematoda — 1, Bivalvia — 1 were found in the spiny loach Cobitis taenia Linnaeus from Saratov Reservoir. The species composition of parasites and the level of host infestation directly depend on the lifestyle and nutrition of fishes. Eating the infected benthic and weed bed invertebrates (oligochaetes, larvae and adult insects), the spiny loach becomes infected with 3 species of helminths. 4 species of parasites infect the host using the active infestation way. Most of the parasites found in fish from different families and groups are wide specific. The parasite fauna includes 1 species, narrow specific for the spiny loach (monogenea Gyrodactylus latus Bychowsky, 1933) and 1 species specific for loaches (fam. Cobitidae) — metacercariae of Holostephanus cobitis Opravilova, 1968. For 4 species of parasites, the spiny loach is the final (definitive) host, for 3 — intermediate. The dominant species in the composition of the parasite fauna C. taenia is the trematode H. cobitidis (mtc.); the extensity of infection with it reaches 97,9%, the abundance index is 10,8 ind. Fluke larvae infect fishes (using the active way) penetrating through the skin. The most pathogenic for spiny loach parasites are the monogenea G. latus, metacercariae of trematodes H. cobitidis and Paracoenogonimus ovatus Katsurada, 1914, the larva of the nematode Raphidascaris acus Bloch, 1779.
Gastrointestinal helminth fauna and helminth communities of bleak (Alburnus alburnus, L. 1758) from lower section of Danube River
