This study is aimed at determining the gastrointestinal parasite of Tilapia fish in Birnin Kebbi Central market. Thirty 33 samples of tilapia were used in this study. Fresh tilapia fish were bought from fish vendors at central market, Birnin Kebbi. Parasites were identified, isolated and harvested under different magnifications. Identification of parasites was through use of morphological features. A total of 33 samples were detected positive with gastrointestinal parasites. This study shows that 10 different parasitic species namely, Capillaria spp, Phaementena spp, Pomphorynchus spp, Cystobranchus spp, Illinobdella spp and Eustrongylides spp were identified among the tilapia fish samples. The presence of this parasite may be attributable to the good water quality in aquaculture that favours intestinal parasite and their intermediate hosts. The result also revealed that there is slight differences i percentage of parasite between the sexes with female fishes (52.78%) slightly higher than male fishes (47.22%). From this study, female fish were more parasitized than males. From this and previous limited studies, its clear that more research needs to be dedicated to clearly mapping out the prevalence, intensities and distribution of gastrointestinal parasite in tilapia fish in Africa Intervention strategies should also be formulated to cut down on the losses by farmers and avoid a crisis in this important part of the agriculture sector.
Key words: Fish, Tilapia, Intestinal Parasites
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