Parasite fauna of Mytilus galloprovincialis living in Sinop area of Black Sea

Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819) living at other seas and the Black Sea surrounding Turkey is an aquatic product which has economical significance. In this research study, for the first time in Turkey, the parasite fauna of Mediterranean mussel were determined monthly in three different sampling areas representing three different ecosystem around Sinop coasts in the period between 15 August 2012 ? 14 August 2013. A total of 5 parasite species including Nematopsis legeri (de Beauchamp, 1910), Urastoma cyprinae (Graff, 1882), Parvatrema duboisi (Dollfus, 1923), Polydora ciliata (Johnston, 1838) and Peniculistoma mytili (Morgan, 1925) Jankowski, 1964 were identified. Infection prevalence (%), mean intensity and abundance were determined for each parasite species. The findings were either illustrated in figures or presented in tables. Parvatrema duboisi and Nematopsis legeri were studied histologicaly. All the parasite species identified in the present study represent new parasite records for Turkey and all the results obtained here have potential to provide a valuable background for future studies to be conducted in this study field.