Objective: To study the prevalence and mean intensity of parasites from pike, ( Esox lucius ) in Amir Kelaieh Lagoon Design :Descriptive study.
Animals: A total of 78 pikes.
Procedure: Cutting the wall of body cavity and removing viscera which include intestine, liver, ovaries, testis and etc to isolate the parasites, cutting the muscles and finding the cysts of the parasites in them, fixing the metazoans by formalin
10% and protozoans by schaudinn's fluids, clearing the nematodes by lactophenol, staining the other parasites by acetocarmine and identifying them by identification keys ( Moravec, 1994 ; Bykhovskaya and Pavlovskaya , 1962 ) . Statistical analysis: Calculating the prevalence, mean intensity and range of the parasites by Microsoft Excel and comparing infections based on season, sex and age by Z test and One Way Anova test (P_0.05).
Results: Collection of ten different parasite species from pikes of the lagoon including Raphidascaris acus (prevalence = 26.9% , mean intensity = 8.7 ) ; Camallanus lacustris ( p = 6.4% , rni = 1.8 ) ; Eustrongylides excisus ( p =2.6% , rni = 1 ); Triaenophorus crassus (p=9%, mi=2.7 ) ;Trichodina sp. (p = 1.28% , mi=lO) ; Tetraonchus monenteron ( p = 20.5 % , mi = 12 ) ; Diplostomum spathaceum
( p = 7.7 , mi = 3.6 ) Lemaea sp. (p= 2.6% , mi =3 ) ; Argulus sp.
( p =3.8% , mi = 1.33) ;piscicola sp. (p =1.28%, mi = 1 ).
Conclusion: The results of the survey showed that the parasite community of pike had much diversity due to piscivorous diet of the fish and the parasites which had vertebrate ( fish) intermediate hosts, including Eustrongylides excisus. Raphidascaris acus and etc. the prevalence and mean intensity of Raphidascans acus were more than other parasites. Camallanus lacustris is reported for the first time from pike in Iran .J.Fac. Vet.Med.Univ.Tehran.59,4:333-339,2004.
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