Volume 57 (2007) Issue: 2007 No#5-6

Metagonimus yokogawai, a new parasitic trematoda species in ichtyoparasitofauna of the Serbia

Author(s): Cakić P, Paunović M, Stojanović Bojana, Đikanović Vesna, Kulišić Z

Keywords:Metagonimus yokogawai metacercaria, fish, Danube River, Serbia

During the study of fish parasites in the Serbian section of the Danube River in 2003, a new Trematoda species for ichthyofauna of Serbia has been detected. It is, at the same time, the first finding of larvae of Metagonimus yokogawai in Serbia, as adult forms have been observed from mallard Anas platyrhynchus (L.), previously. Metacercariae of M. yokogawai have been identified on the scales of chub Leuciscus cephalus (L.), barbel Barbus barbus (L.), bleak Alburnus alburnus (L.), pikeperch Sander lucioperca (L.) and rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus (L.) in the Serbian part of Danube River. The particular risk, beside the possible negative influence of spreading on fish and other host populations (some aquatic snails, fish-eating birds and some mammals), is the potential spreading of the parasitic disease in humans – Metagonimosis.