Validity, impacts and seasonal prevalence of Henneguya species infecting catfish Clarias gariepinus from River Nile, Egypt.

The validity, impacts and seasonal prevalence of Henneguya suprabranchiae infecting Clarias gariepinus from the River Nile were studied. The overall prevalence was 35% (84/240) with maximum rate of infection in spring and minimum rate of infection in summer. The development of the cyst-like plasmodia was "the intrafilamental type'. Henneguya suprabranchiae is a pathogenic species as the parasite showed high intensity of infection which led to deformation of the filament structure and complete disappearance of the gill lamellae. The validity of H. suprabranchiae compared to the other described species of the same host was discussed.