Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitosis Caused by Nematopsis sp (Protozoa: Apicomplexa) in Litopenaeus vannamei and its Relationship with Water Turbidity, in a Fattening Farm

Objective: This research aims to calculate the prevalence of intestinal parasitosis caused by Nematopsis sp (Protozoa: Apicomplexa) on white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and relate it to water turbidity, in a fattening farm. Methods: The work was carried out on the western coast of the state of Falcón (Venezuela), where the animals (for clinical and laboratory analysis) and the turbidity data of the pool water were obtained. For the turbidity analysis, the Secchi disk was used, which allowed the measurement to be recorded in centimeters of transparency. The shrimp were captured by random sampling in the lagoons and immediately transferred to the laboratory for clinical study, subsequently data on prevalence, correlation (R), and coefficient of determination (R2) were obtained. Results: Once the analyses were carried out, a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.319951628 was obtained, indicating the low dependence (weak positive connection) between the related variables (the prevalence of diseases and the levels of turbidity in the water). In the evaluation of the R2, the value of 0.102369044 was obtained, which indicated that in only 10.23% of the infected animals, there was an influence of turbidity on the prevalence of infected animals. Conclusion: The prevalence values obtained in this study are consistent with those reported in other research in Latin America. In turn, the related data demonstrated that water turbidity could be related (weakly) to the presence of the parasitic protozoan Nematopsis sp, however, their statistical relationship is very scarce.