The seasonal variations and pathological manifestation of the acanthocephala infestation were investigated from southeast coast of India. The adult worms’ proboscis is cylindrical, the length and width ranging between 1.2-7.3 cm and 1.0-1.8 mm respectively. Caranx ignobilis was the major host in terms of prevalence and intensity among the other fish species examined for infestation and seasonal variation of Acanthocephalus ranae over three year period. The higher prevalence of infested fishes Caranx ignobilis (61.8% ±1.8), Seriolina nigrofasciata (48.6% ±1.3) and Dayseiaena albida (38.5% ±1.8) were observed. Mean intensities ranged between 5.8 and 12.6 worms per fish. Grossly, the parasites attached tissues were wounded, reddish, swollen, abraded and thickened. Histologically, the infested intestinal outer wall of the muscularies extema and tip of the proboscis is still inverted; Hyperplasia of the intestinal villi and lamina propria near the site of parasitic attachment were also evidenced. Cellular infiltrated area surrounding the proboscis, aggregation of lymphocytes and fibroblasts at the site of inflammation were observed from the parasitized intestine. The lesions were infiltrating with basophil-like inflammatory cells. The histological findings revealed that the pathological injure was depends on the density of the parasitic burden and depth of the proboscis penetration into the host intestine. Long live parasite increases the cellular infiltration and it may leads to the tumorous conditions of the infested hosts.
Sakthivel et al. (Wed,) studied this question.