Taxonomy of Piscian Cestodes of Freshwater fish: A cladistic model of Morphotaxonomic Study of Rare Tapeworm from the Dehradun Region (U.K.), India

The current experimental study has been conducted to analyze cladistic taxonomic aspects of the piscian cestode parasites including its morphological characters. Freshwater fishes caught on the spot at selected sampling stations with the help of local fishermen and collected for tapeworm investigations. Freshwater catfish Clarias batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758)[3] collected from Dehradun sampling stations and examined for tapeworm parasites as per experimental design. The collected fishes were brought to the Parasitology laboratory for experimental study and morphological as well as anatomical facts investigation. Parasites obtained from infected host fishes kept intact in 5% formalin for further investigation. Ten cestode (tapeworm) parasites were found from its infested Intestine. The morphological study of tapeworms indicates that parasitic diversity is accessible within the Ganga River at Dehradun (U.K.) region. Morphotaxonomic characterization reported as - H, butterfly flap shaped ovary, testes numerous and well developed, vitelline follicle - cortical and medullary. This study provides an overview of the piscian tapeworm parasites of some freshwater fishes inhabiting the Ganga River.