• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.306-315
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• 2019

The estuary of the Han River constantly suffers from pollutants and pathogenic microorganisms which could cause serious damage to aquatic organisms living there. Despite of this potential risk, it is hard to find any reliable scientific reports on the status of reportable disease infection to the organisms living in this area. In this study, cyprinid fish and crustaceans in Jeonryu-ri, a region of the Han River estuary, were investigated for the infection by representative reportable communicable diseases(SVC, spring viraemia of carp; KHVD, koi herpesvirus disease; EUS, epizootic ulcerative syndrome; WSD, white spot disease) and parasites. Peripheral fish and primary freshwater fish were observed in Jeonryu-ri with cyprinid caught most frequently. Crustaceans were mostly marine species. No positive bands to any of the reportable diseases were produced in any of the fish and crustacean examined in this study by PCR. No trace of Clonorchis sinensis, a liver fluke potential threat to human health, was detected in any of fish samples. However, many fish were infected by metacecaria of other flukes, and other various parasites such as nematode, cestode, copepod, monosite and acanthocephalan. These results suggest that important aquatic organisms in the Han River estuary is not seriously polluted yet. However, it is important to keep monitoring the diseases since the water quality in this region is constantly changing, and devastating influence of infectious diseases is unpredictable. Further, it is required to expand monitoring area toward upstream and increase the number of fish for examination.