Description

Parasites are small animals that need one or more hosts to complete their life cycle and generally cannot survive outside their host. Their presence may or may not affect the host's health. Both freshwater and saltwater fish can harbor parasites that infect humans. Fish roundworms are found in saltwater fish, fish tapeworms in cold freshwater fish, and fish flukes in temperate and warm freshwater fish. Freezing fish at -20∞C for 24 hours or -35∞C for 15 hours, or heating it above 60∞C for at least 1 minute, can kill these parasites. Parasites are common in fish and can provide insights into host population ecology. In fisheries biology, they help distinguish different populations of the same species. Parasites have specialized traits and life-history strategies for colonizing hosts, which helps understand host parasite-avoidance strategies. This book offers comprehensive, up-to-date information on fisheries in straightforward language for easy reading and quick assimilation.