Diversity of metazoan parasites and pathological alterationscaused by some parasites infecting the Southern mouth-brooder,Pseducrenilabrus philander (Weber, 1897) from the middleLimpopo basin

The importance of Pseudocrenilabrus philander as an ornamental fish, has received attention due to its opalescence blue and pale yellow colour. This fish species is already utilised by subsistence fishermen in the Limpopo Province as additional source of protein and they are valuelable in behavioral and evolutionary research. Eighty-six specimens of P. philander (Mean total length = 5.46) were collected during summer period in November 2013 and February 2014 and during winter in July and August 2014 from Nwanedi River (South Africa) and and Bubi River (Zimbabwe), respectively. Fish were sacrified by severing the spinal cord. Gill arches were dissected out and fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for histopathology. Standard methods were followed for histology and slides were stained with Maematoxylin and Eosin. All parasites found were isolated from different organs and fixed by appropriate methods. Morphometric evaluations revealed the presence of six pecies of monogeans, Enterogyrus coronatus, Cichlidogyrus tilapiae, Cichlidogyrus philander and Cichlidogyrus spp and Gyrodactylus sp.; three species of digenean metacercariae, Petasiger sp., Clinostomum sp. and Neodiplostomum sp.; eight species of cestode larvea of Neogryporhynchus spp., Paradilepis scolesica, Paradilepis sp., Parvitaenia macropeos, Parvitania spp. and Valipora minuta; and L3 stage larvae of five nematode species, Procamallanus sp., Camallanus spp. and Contracaecum sp. Petasiger sp. and C. philander had a prevalence of 55% and 67.5%, respectively. Petasiger sp. caused swelling and aneurysm of primary and secondyry lamellae, respectively while C. philander caused epithelia erosion, hyperplasia and focal lamellar fusion.