Helminth communities of the Turkish endemic fish, Pseudophoxinus crassus (Ladiges, 1960): four helminth parasites for a new host record By A. Aydogdu 1 , F. Erk’akan 2 , N. Keskin 2 , D. Innal 3 and I. Aslan 2 1 Mustafakemalpasa Vocational School, Uludag University, Mustafakemalpasa, Bursa, Turkey; 2 Department of Biology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey; 3 Department of Biology, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Turkey Summary Tuz G€ ol€ u (Salt Lake) Basin is one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world and of extremely high biological impor- tance owing to its high diversity and high level of endemism. It is hypothesized that the basin environment and the ende- mism of Pseudophoxinus crassus – a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family and found only in Turkey – might contribute to the host-specific parasite characters. A total of 92 P. crassus specimens were collected by electrofishing between spring 2009 and autumn 2010 from the _ Incesu Stream in Konya Province, Turkey. By the end of the study period, four parasitic helminth species (Gyrodactylus latus, Asymphylodora imitans, Bothriocephalus acheilognathi and Pomphorhynchus laevis) were recorded. All had been reported previously from other hosts (non-host specific). Among these parasites G. latus and A. imitans are new records for the hel- minth fauna of Turkey. Prevalence and infestation intensity, length classes, and sex compositions of infested populations, as well as the seasonality of infestation were obtained and the results compared with other studies. Introduction The primary freshwater fish fauna of Anatolia is dominated by cyprinids and characterized by a high level of endemism (Fricke et al., 2007). The genus Pseudophoxinus consists of approximately 27 species of freshwater fish and has a wide geographic distribution throughout Europe and Asia (Froese and Pauly, 2013). In recent years the distribution and sys- tematics of Pseudophoxinus in Turkey have undergone numerous taxonomic changes and intensive investigations. The ecology of the Pseudophoxinus genus has been reported in aquatic systems in terms of distribution, growth properties and parasites (K€ uc ߀ uk and Ikiz, 2004; Soylu and Emre, 2007; Ergene et al., 2010; Aydo gdu et al., 2011a,b; Innal, 2012, 2014). Pseudophoxinus crassus is endemic to the Tuz G€ ol € u (Salt Lake) Basin. This basin has been affected by large-scale anthropogenic influences, mainly the substantial development of agriculture activities and increasing human population in the catchment. Studies on the parasites of endemic fishes are requisite for the management and conservation of fish popu- lations in natural water bodies. Tuz G€ ol€ u Basin is extremely important biologically owing to its broad diversity and high level of endemism. We hypothesize that the environment of the Salt Lake Basin and the endemism of P. crassus might contribute to host-specific parasite characters. This study provides baseline information on the helminth species of P. crassus and evaluates the effect of the size of the host, the sex, and the season with regard to infestations. Materials and methods The study was carried out over a period of seven samplings in the _ Incesu Stream in Konya Province, from March 2009 to October 2010. Two sites (Site 1, lower stream section; Site 2, upper stream section) were selected and samplings carried out using electrofishing. A total of 92 P. crassus specimens were examined for the presence of helminth communities. Specimens were placed in a well-aerated 20-L aquarium filled with stream water where they were maintained for 2–3 h. The fish were then anaesthetized with MS-222. The total length and sex of each fish was determined at necropsy. Dur- ing the dissection, all internal organs (gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidney, heart, swim bladder, and gallbladder), gill fila- ments, eyes, fins, and body surfaces were examined sepa- rately under a dissecting microscope. All parasites were identified using selected identification keys (Yamaguti, 1958; Oliver, 1968). The levels of prevalence, intensity and mean abundance of the parasite species were calculated according to Bush et al. (1997). The standard statistical computation (standard deviation) was carried out using Microsoft Excel Office 2007. A t-test was applied to the data to determine the existence of any meaningful differences between the abun- dance levels of helminth species and fish size, ages and sex at the significance level of 0.05. Statistical analyses of data were carried out using the Minitab 14.00 package programs. Results A total of 92 P. crassus specimens were examined, whereby 57 were found to be infected by one or more parasite species. Individual P. crassus were found to be parasitized by four helminth species: Gyrodactylus latus (Monogenea), Asymphyl- odora imitans (Digenea), Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acantho- cephala) and Bothriocephalus acheilognathi (Cestoda). A. imitans was found to be the dominant parasite species, with total of 271 individuals recorded from 26 fishes. P. la- U.S. Copyright Clearance Centre Code Statement: 0175-8659/2014/3005–937$15.00/0 J. Appl. Ichthyol. 30 (2014), 937–940 © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH ISSN 0175–8659 Received: August 18, 2013 Accepted: January 28, 2014 doi: 10.1111/jai.12442 Applied Ichthyology Journal of