Community structure, seasonal dynamics, and impact of some biological parameters of the African catfish on the infection level of the helminth parasites.

Fish parasitic diseases impose a major economic concern on aquaculture. Identified parasites of include one monogenean, (gills), three digeneans and sp. (intestine), two cestodes and (intestine) and two nematodes and (intestine and stomach). Most nematodes, digeneans and cestodes occurred in all months of the study period. However, and sp. disappeared for 6 and 8 months of the year, respectively. The digenean group was the most dominant followed by the cestode and nematode groups, respectively. The nematodes attained the highest infection rate over the digeneans and cestodes while the monogenean recorded the lowest infection rate. The infection level of examined parasites varied seasonally, but no overall significant pattern was detected. showed a highly significant difference for all parameters seasonally. A higher prevalence was obvious in males than females for most parasites, and the opposite for the mean intensity except for . which was significantly different between females and males in the mean abundance. There were variations in the relationship between the host condition factor and helminth parasite infection levels. . and recorded the highest infection level in class II. The mean prevalence was highly significantly different between host classes for , and