Trophic status and helminth infracommunities of fish populations in Kashmir Himalayan lakes

The present study considers the influence of the trophic status of three Kashmir Himalayan lakes on the patterns of helminth infracommunities in populations of three species of fish during 2006 to 2008. Data were collected from three lakes of differing trophic status in the Kashmir Himalayas, namely Anchar, a hyper(eu)trophic lake; Dal, a eutrophic lake; and Manasbal, a meso(eu)trophic lake. Three species of fish examined included the native fish Schizothorax niger Heckel and two exotic species--Carassius carassius (Linnaeus) and Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus. The analysis of data showed a clear habitat effect on the abundance pattern of helminth species, thus revealing lake-specific differences in parasite infracommunities of both S. niger and C. carassius. Helminth infracommunity richness was the highest in host populations from the Anchar lake compared to other two lakes. Low values in the Manasbal lake emphasize the low diversity of their helminth infracommunities. On the other hand, there was no observed pattern of community structure in the case of C. carpio in the three lake sites. However due to bias in sampling there was no distinct effect of fish body size on parasite infracommunity structure, although the present results do show that fish parasite data can be meaningful in diagnosing changes in the trophic condition of eutrophic lakes.