A Survey of the Parasites of Freshwater Fishes from the Mainland of British Columbia

Abstract

Examination of 5,456 fish of 36 different species during 1951 and 1952 showed 4,925 or 90 per cent to be infected with at least one species of parasite. Records include fish from many lakes and streams of the Columbia and Fraser drainages and from a few localities in the Skeena, Peace, Liard and Skagit drainages. Parasites are recorded for each species of fish from each locality. The incidence of parasitism in the fish was comparable with that found by other surveys in eastern Canada and the United States. No major differences were found in the parasite faunas of the different river systems. Most of the common parasites were forms of circumpolar or general North American distribution. Several species of parasites described only from the Pacific coast area were common in certain hosts. Introduced species of fish showed very light infections with but few species of their normal parasites. The parasite fauna of fishes of this area appears to be less varied than in eastern and southern parts of the continent.