FIRST RECORD OF AN INDIAN ECTOPARASITIC TRICHODINID CILIOPHORAN (CILIOPHORA: TRICHODINIDAE) Trichodina cancilae ASMAT, 2001 FROM AN INDIAN NEEDLEFISH Xenentodon cancila (HAMILTON, 1822) IN ASSAM, INDIA
AMLAN KUMAR MITRA
*
Department of Zoology, Ranaghat College, P. O. Ranaghat, Dist. Nadia, West Bengal, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Xenentodon cancila (Hamilton, 1822), the freshwater garfish, is a species of needlefish found in freshwater and brackish habitats in South and Southeast Asia. This fish is a common popular aquarium fish. While belonging to the same family as the marine needlefish known in Europe as gar or garpike, these fish are much more distantly related to other fishes sometimes called gars. This study reports Trichodina cancilae Asmat, 2001 from Assam, India for the first time, parasitizing gills of a freshwater fish locally known as Kokila (X. cancila Hamilton, 1822). Morphology, morphometrics of T. cancilae is described here with a comparison of the same species reported from West Bengal and Bangladesh. This Trichodina species falls within the range of morphometry and agrees closely in the overall appearance of the adhesive disc with the original population.
Keywords: Trichodina cancilae, ectoparasite, fish, Xententodon cancila, Assam