Cercariae from snails in rice fields and canal supplying water directly to <em>Trichopodus microlepis</em> fish cultured in earthen ponds in Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Abstract

Snails are the first intermediate host in the life cycle of trematodes. Previous research found that <em>Trichopodus microlepis</em> fish, cultured in earthen ponds in Tan Nhut Commune, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam had a high infection rate with metacercariae of <em>Centrocestus formosanus</em> and <em>Procevorum</em> sp. It is necessary to investigate whether habitats supplying water to the ponds may contribute to the transmission by carrying intermediate hosts and/or cercariae into these ponds or not. A study of cercariae and snail composition in rice fields and canal supplying water directly to these <em>Trichopodus microlepis</em> ponds was carried out with six samplings in the years 2022 and 2023. A total of 1,151 snails were collected, and nine snail species belonging to 8 genera and 6 families were identified. Three snail species in both rice fields and canal were infected with trematode (cercariae stage) including <em>Bithynia siamensis, Lymnaea viridis</em> and <em>Indoplanorbis exustus</em>. The overall prevalence in the dry season (25.9%) was significantly higher than in the wet season (10.6%) (P<0.05). Three cercariae morphotypes were recovered from snails: xiphidio (in all three snails), echinostome (in <em>Lymnaea viridis</em> and <em>Indoplanorbis exustus</em>), and pleurolophocercous in <em>Bithynia siamensis</em>. This finding shows that <em>Bithynia siamensis</em> is one of the infected sources for <em>Trichopodus microlepis</em> fish cultured in ponds, as pleurolophocercous is also the cercariae in the family of Heterophyidae (including <em>Centrocestus formosanus</em> and <em>Procevorum</em> sp.). Further research should be done to clarify the transmission of fish-borne zoonotic diseases to cultured <em>Trichopodus microlepis</em> in other habitats including the actual fishponds, and sources of trematodes in order to produce <em>Trichopodus microlepis</em> free of metacercariae, contributing to clean aquaculture development and safe food for local people in the area.