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An experimental study into the possible protection of fry from Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Fouquet) infections during mouthbrooding of Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters)
Author(s) -
SUBASINGHE R. P.,
SOMMERVILLE C.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of fish diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-2761
pISSN - 0140-7775
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2761.1989.tb00286.x
Subject(s) - ichthyophthirius multifiliis , biology , oreochromis mossambicus , parasite hosting , brood , ciliate , zoology , catfish , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , tilapia , ecology , world wide web , computer science
. The tilapine fish species belonging to the genus Oreochromis brood developing eggs and early fry in their buccal cavities. Though it is obvious that mouth brooding facilitates a physical protection from environmental hazards by keeping fry in this confined environment, it is still not clear whether mouth brooding provides any other type of protection to the early fry against pathogens. Investigations were made to study the possibility of protection of early fry of O. mossambicus against infections of the ciliate parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis during mouth brooding. Adult females were effectively immunized against I. multifiliis. Brooding immune females were then challenged with controlled infections of I. multifiliis tomites and the survival of the fry compared to those of challenged non‐immune brooding females. The study demonstrated that there was some protection from the infection conferred to fry during mouthbrooding.