Recent Research in Science and Technology 2011, 3(3): 17-19 ISSN: 2076-5061 www.recent-science.com Editor: Sujeet Jamdar ZOOLOGY HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF MASTACEMBELUS ARMATUS (LECEPEDE, 1800) INFECTED WITH T APEWORM FROM OSMANABAD DISTRICT (M.S.) INDIA Jaywant Dhole ∗ , Dinkar Tambe and Ram Chavan Department of Zoology, Dr. B.A.M.University Aurangabad (M.S.) India Abstract The freshwater fish Mastacembalus armatus (Lecepede, 1800) collected from Osmanabad district during the period of June 2008 and after dissection their intestinal passage was examined for tapeworm parasites. The tapeworm, Circumoncobothrium sp. Shinde (1968) was recovered from intestine Ophalocephalus leucopunctatus. The histopathological studies were carried out and observations clearly shows that the parasites, Circumoncobothrium sp. was approaching to the intestinal villi, embedded in the fibroblast cell, plasma cell and are attached to the intestinal villi. The histopathological studies of tapeworm Circumoncobothrium sp. have been studied to find the pathological changes and extent of damage of the intestinal layers of M. armatus. Keywords: Histopathology, Circumoncobothrium sp., Mastacembalus armatus, Intestinal villi, Osmanabad ∗ Corresponding Author, Email: jaywantdhole@yahoo.com Introduction In aquaculture the health of fish is of at most important. The health of fish can be affected by environmental factors, nutrition as well as by pathogens. The presence of large population of a particular species of fish provides ample habitats for parasites and the stress conditions associated with such crowding will also affect the health and subsequent susceptibility of the fish to parasites. Parasites are affected by both the macro and micro environments. The environmental factors are important in the recruitment, transmission, colonization, fecundity and survival of both the adult and larval parasites (Esch et al., 1977). The tapeworm Circumoncobothrium sp. is one of the tapeworm which cause the severe damage to M. armatus which results into the anemia, weight loss and decreased production. The extensive study on the host parasite relationship has been carried out by Amoebotaenia indiana (Mitra and Shinde). Hymenolepis nana (Bailey, 1951). Host response to implanted adult H. nana as studied by Coleman and Sa L. M, 1962 and experimental immunization of dog against E. granulosus was first observed (Foresk and Rukavina, 1959). Histopathology of Acanthobothrium uncinathum was observed from a fish Rhynchobatus ajeddensis (Murlidhar and Shinde, 1987). They have studied the histopathology of intestine of fish caused due to cestodes (Hayunga, 1977) and the caryophyllaeidiasis in fish hosts (Ahmed and Sanaullah, 1975). In rural area rearing of the M. armatus (Lecepede, 1800) is the common business for the fisherman, for this purpose the commonly used M. armatus and other fishes where helminthes infection is the common threat to the M. armatus population. In this first investigation we studied the histopathology of fish by tapeworm M. armatus (Lecepede, 1800). Material and Methods For the histopathological study, M. armatus of freshwater fishes were collected from local fisherman of Osmanabad district during the period of June 2008. These fishes were brought to the laboratory, dissected out the intestine, examined for the cestode infections. Some fishes were found to be infected whereas few were not. Both infected and non infected hosts intestine were fixed in Bouin’s fluid to study histopathological changes. The fixative inhibits the post mortem changes of the tissues. Then tissues were washed, dehydrated through alcoholic grades, cleared in xylene and embedded in paraffin wax (58-62°C). The blocks were cut at 7μ by rotary microtome and slides were stained in Eosin Haematoxylin double staining method and the sections were mounted in the DPX. Best slides or sections were selected and observed under the microscope for histopathological study. The photomicrographs were taken with the help of camera. These slides were identified by using keys “Systema Helminthum” (Yamaguti, 1956).