Effect of marine Eubothrium sp (Cestoda : Pseudophyllidea) on the growth of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.

Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar L., experimentally infected with marine Euboth rium sp. were kept together with uninfected salmon in the laboratory for 11 months in two tanks, 80 infected and 80 uninfected in each tank. The infec ted fish had a reduced growth rate compared with the uninfected fish. Signi ficant differences in growth between infected and uninfected fish were not observed until several months pose-infection. There was no correlation betw een the number of Eubothrium sp. and fish weight, indicating that even low intensity alters the growth rate of the salmon. The cestode had the same ef fect on both sexes of salmon. Haematocrit level was found to be significant ly lower in infected compared with uninfected salmon in one of the samples during the experiment.