Distribution of isopod parasites in commercially important marine fishes of the Miri coast, East Malaysia.
Isopods occur very commonly as parasites in food fishes. Parasitic isopods are typically marine and usually inhabit the warmer seas. They are blood-feeding; several species settle in the buccal cavity of fish, others live in the gill chamber or on the body surface including the fins. Isopods can cause morbidity and mortality in captive fish populations. The infestation usually pressure atrophy often accompanies the presence of larger parasites. The present study was aimed at collecting information on the neglected group of isopod parasites of the marine fishes from the Miri coastal environment, East Malaysia. A very little information available regarding the distribution of isopod parasites of Malaysian coastal environment. In the present study, nine isopod parasites were  oberved from ten marine fish species. The maximum number of parasites were observed in the months of June and October, 2013. Maximum prevalence was observed in October (50 %) and the minimum was observed in June (7.14 %). The parasitic infestation may lead to an economic loss in commercial fish species.
Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, CDT 250, 98009 Miri, Sarawak Malaysia.
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Anand Kumar
Unit of Toxicology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 046 India.
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Rameshkumar
Faculty of Marine Science, Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu 608 502 India.
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Ravichandran
Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, CDT 250, 98009 Miri, Sarawak Malaysia.
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Nagarajan
Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, CDT 250, 98009 Miri, Sarawak Malaysia.
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Prabakaran
Unit of Toxicology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 046 India.
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Ramesh
East Malaysia; Infestation; Isopod parasite; Marine fishes