A CHECKLIST OF PARASITIC HELMINTH AND CRUSTACEAN SPECIES RECORDED IN FRESH-WATER FISH FROM IRELAND

This paper presents the first checklist of helminth parasite and ectop arasitic crustacean species recorded from freshwater fish that is excl usive to Ireland. The parasite species list is arranged alphabetically by phylum and class, as appropriate, and comprises information on the parasite species name, host, location of host capture, and author and date of published record. The host list consists of all parasite spec ies listed by host species. The significance of the occurrence (or non -occurrence) of certain parasite species or groups in Ireland is discu ssed and contrasted with those described from Britain. Relationships b etween fish range and parasite species richness and between sampling e ffort and species richness are presented. The relevance of these obser vations for further research on Irish freshwater fish helminths is als o highlighted.