INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL ON THE HELMINTH INFECTION AND RELATIVE DENSITY OF HELMINTH PARASITES IN CONGRESOX TALABONOIDES (BLEEKER)

The influence of temperature and rainfall had a pronounced impact on the helminth infection in a marine edible fish Congresox tallabonoides (Bleeker). The high temperature favoured the increase of incidence of infection and low temperature decreased the incidence of infection levels. The high rainfall had an adverse effect and low rainfall always favoured the increase of incidence of infection levels in the host. The mean relative density of helminth parasites was high (51.99%) in the case of nematodes. It was moderate (33.29%) in the case of trematodes and less (14.68%) in the case of cestodes. The infection of acanthocephalans was, however, found to be nil during the period of investigation.