Description

The first key to parasites of freshwater fish of the USSR was published in Russian in 1962 and was translated into English in 1964. It was a one volume book that included keys for all parasite groups to the species level. Its translation is only one available internationally to present day. The second edition, also in Russian, was published between 1984 and 1987 and consists of three volumes (editor-in-chief O.N. Bauer). The second volume deals mostly with monogenenans (editor A.V. Gussev) and includes 24 keys and 16 supplements. In this volume, the Dactylogyridae (s.s. & sensu Bychowsky et Nagibina, 1978) includes seven genera, and two separate keys can be used to identify over 200 nominal Dactylogyrus species. Three keys identify about 50 species in two subfamilies of the Ancyrocephalidae (sensu Bychowsky, 1937), and the Tetraonchidae includes 20 species. Keys for four genera in the Gyrodactylidae identify about 150 nominal species. For the polyopisthcotyleans, several keys can be used to identify more then 30 species from 10 genera.
Overall, about 500 species of monogeneans can be identified to species level using the keys and supplements in this book. Thus, this volume became popular among ichthyoparasitologists, despite it being written in Russian. Currently, it is a rare book. More than 20 years have passed since the second edition was published, and many new monogenan species have been described. New data from different countries exists, and some revisions to different monogenean taxa have been published. Therefore, preparation of a second edition English language “Guide to the Monogenoidea of Freshwater Fish of the Palaearctic and Amur Regions” seems to be of current importance.