This checklist summarizes information on the parasites of Bangladeshi fishes contained in world literature dating from the earliest known records to the end of 2000. Information is presented in the form of parasite-host and host-parasite lists. Included are 147 named species of parasites. Also included are many records of parasites not identified to species level. The parasite-host list is organized on a taxonomic basis and provides information for each parasite species on the environment (freshwater, brackish water, marine), the location (site of infection) in or on its host(s), the species of host(s) infected, the known geographic distribution (by administrative division) in Bangladesh, and the published sources for each host and locality record. The parasite fauna of fishes of Bangladesh remains poorly known. Parasites have been reported from only 85 of the 528 species of marine and freshwater fish occurring in the waters of Bangladesh. The situation is complicated by the large number of reports that are based on apparent misidentifications, the existence of a plethora of poorly described species and the relatedness of the Bangladesh fish parasite fauna to that of the larger Indian subregion, which is also poorly known for many of the same reasons.
