A new type of pleurocercoids in the genus Diphyllobothrium from smelts in the Far East of the USSR

The research has demonstrated that 35.8% of Hypomesus pretiosus Girard and 55.9% of Osmerus eperlanus dentex Steindachner in various regions of the Far East of the USSR (Khabarovsk and Primorye territories and Sakhalin) are affected by diphyllobothriid larvae of a hitherto unknown type, indicated as the G type. Parasites are localized on the internal organs of a intermediate host such as esophagus, stomach, liver and genital organs. Diphyllobothriid larvae of the G type do not invade man, thus the indicated fishes are not epidemiologically significant in spreading diphyllobathriasis among the population in the Far East of the USSR.