Disease outbreaks continue to be a major problem in the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. Clinical outbreaks can negatively impact on the welfare of the fish and the economic gain derived from this industry. Jaundice observed as a yellow colouration in the abdominal skin, sclera of the eyes and fin bases is a significant health problem affecting the Vietnamese freshwater catfish industry. This study was designed to investigate jaundice of farmed catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus using several complementary approaches. These included clinical investigations and identification of potential aetiological agents as well as epidemiological analyses to identify farm-based risk factors for this economically devastating condition occurring in the catfish farms of the Mekong Delta. The results of this survey demonstrated that the jaundice was not linked to a single geographical location as affected fish were found widely distributed throughout the five main production areas. Nor was any association found between any weight groupings, feed type or feeding regime applied in the affected farms. The highest prevalence occurred between June to October and fish mortalities ranged from 1 to 10% in the study sites. The duration of this condition was significantly correlated (P < 0.05) to mortality but not to total farm area, depth of pond, stocking density, or amount of water exchanged. The number of fish ponds affected was not as high in the large-scale farms compared to the small-scale farms. The results from the clinical description study showed that the affected fish were suffering a form of jaundice or icterus. Histological examination revealed a number of serious pathologies in the affected fish. Spleenomegaly was associated with the loss of cell structure and connective tissue and the haematopoietic tissue had large areas of necrosis. In the liver, histological changes consisted of vasculitis and multifocal to diffuse hepatocellular necrosis. The presence of haemosiderin was observed in melano-macrophage centres in the spleen and kidney of jaundiced fish. No single pathogen was identified in the jaundiced fish. Myxosporean infection was found in both apparently normal fish and jaundiced fish. However, there was a definite tendency for jaundiced fish to be more heavily infected. Histopathological examination found several changes that could not be ascribed to specific aetiological factors and presume that both groups (jaundiced alone and myxosporean-affected jaundiced fish) have similar lesions. The results of this study would suggest that the parasite identified as M. pangasii was not a primary pathogen associated with the haemolytic jaundice. Neither were the gills myxosporeans associated with the haemolytic jaundice and they may be considered more as a nuisance rather than as primary pathogens in farmed P. hypophthalmus in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Univariate analysis of the whole dataset showed several variables were significantly associated with the haemolytic jaundice. However, none of the variables achieved lasting statistical relevance in multivariable models. In conclusion, this study identified a haemolytic jaundice condition affecting farmed P. hypophthalmus in Vietnam, but no single aetiological agent or farm based risk factor was identified with this condition. Several priority areas for further work were identified and include a prospective, longitudinal cohort study to identify further the risk factors associated with the clinical jaundice condition.

This study describes the population characteristics of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) in the lower 200 miles of the Wabash River in 1998. Densities of channel and flathead catfish did not differ over the study reach for either species. Electrofishing captured twice as many channel as flathead catfish, and hoop nets captured twice as many flatheads as channel catfish. Growth rates of channel catfish were fast as compared to documented growth in other rivers in the United States, with ages ranging from 1-8. Flathead catfish growth was average when compared to that reported in other United States rivers with ages ranging from 0-7. Length-frequency analysis for both species revealed the populations were comprised of small individuals with mortality higher than expected in older fish. This study will aid in the management of the Wabash River, as historic data are limited. / Department of Biology

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Food Science, Nutrition, and Health Promotion. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T11:52:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-02-28Bitstream added on 2015-03-03T12:06:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000808160.pdf: 3327931 bytes, checksum: 0630557b7727b605dd336a3fb8ae303a (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O gênero Rineloricaria é composto atualmente por 65 espécies válidas, que se distribuem por quase toda a região Neotropical. Por ocuparem grande variedade de habitats, as espécies desse gênero apresentam intensa diversidade morfológica, o que dificulta o entendimento da taxonomia e, sobretudo, dos processos evolutivos das espécies e de seus caracteres morfológicos. Nesse sentido o presente trabalho buscou investigar a evolução do gênero Rineloricaria, sob os aspectos taxonômicos, ecomorfológicos e biogeográficos, baseando-se em análises filogenéticas moleculares. Os resultados demonstraram que esse gênero é um grupo monofilético que se originou há aproximadamente 15 milhões de anos na região do sistema de drenagens do paleo Amazonas-Orinoco, e que a evolução dos sistemas de drenagens neotropicais refletiu diretamente nas atuais distribuições das espécies do gênero. Por outro lado, fatores ambientais específicos nortearam a seleção de determinados conjuntos de caracteres de forma convergente, caracteres esses anteriormente utilizados na descrição de grupamentos fenéticos, que por sua vez se demonstraram não naturais / Rineloricaria currently comprises 65 valid species, which are widespread in the Neotropical Region. Because these species occupy a great variety of habitats, they present a wide intra and interspecific morphological diversity, which difficult the understanding of the taxonomical and a specially the evolutionary process of these species and of their morphological characters. In this sense, this study sought to investigate the evolution of Rineloricaria genus, under taxonomical, ecomorphological and biogeographical aspects, based on molecular phylogenetic analyses. Results show that this genus is a monophyletic group, which originated about 15 million years ago in the region of the paleo-Amazonas-Orinoco drainage system, and that the evolution of the neotropical drainage systems reflected directly in the current distribution of Rineloricaria species. On the other hand, specific environmental factors guided the evolution of some characters in a convergent way, some of them previously used in the description of phenetic groups, which in turn showed to be artificial. This study contributes to the understanding of the evolutionary processes of Rineloricaria species, and also proposes alternative routes of dispersion and colonization of neotropical fishes

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-09-08T18:35:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 victordecarvalhoalves.pdf: 939143 bytes, checksum: 1d921ba52e0d306d3b83790a12e87945 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Diamantino Mayra (mayra.diamantino@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-09T10:47:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 victordecarvalhoalves.pdf: 939143 bytes, checksum: 1d921ba52e0d306d3b83790a12e87945 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-09T10:47:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 victordecarvalhoalves.pdf: 939143 bytes, checksum: 1d921ba52e0d306d3b83790a12e87945 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-17 / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A densidade calórica é uma das unidades de energia mais indicadas para estudos bioenergéticos, sendo recentemente aplicada à quantificações do fluxo de energia em ecossistemas aquáticos. Neste estudo foram investigadas as variações de densidade calórica em quatro espécies de peixes da família Loricariidae (Siluriformes). Estas espécies podem ser classificadas dentro de dois grupos com diferenciados padrões reprodutivos: (i) Hypostomus punctatus e Neoplecostomus microps se reproduzem no período de maior precipitação; (ii) Rineloricaria sp.1 e Rineloricaria sp.2 apresentam atividade reprodutiva durante todo o ano. Coletas realizadas de março/2009 a novembro/2010 em sete pontos distribuídos nos trechos alto, médio e baixo do Rio Macaé (RJ), resultaram na amostragem de 279 indivíduos. Amostras de músculos tiveram seu conteúdo calórico determinado em bomba calorimétrica (IKA-C200), e os resultados foram relacionados a estádio de maturação, sexo, localidade e fase ontogenética, dentro da mesma espécie, e em relação a variáveis abióticas (temperatura da água, condutividade e fluxo) e índices biológicos (índice gonadossomático e fator de condição). A densidade calórica diferiu significativamente entre estádios reprodutivos de machos de N. microps e para ambos os sexos de R. sp.2. Não foram detectadas diferenças para ambos os sexos de R. sp.1. Padrões de variação energética ao longo do ciclo reprodutivo puderam ser constatados: fêmeas apresentaram maiores valores no estádio maturação e acentuada recuperação energética em seus músculos nos estádios semi-desovado (R. sp.1 e R. sp.2) e desovado (N. microps), enquanto os machos tiveram baixos valores de densidade calórica nos estádios semi-esgotado e esgotado (N. microps e R. sp.2). Juvenis de N. microps apresentaram valores médios significativamente menores e juvenis de H. punctatus demonstraram a mesma tendência. Diferenças significativas de densidade calórica relacionadas ao sexo foram verificadas apenas para R. sp2, embora, para todas as espécies, machos tenham exibido médias inferiores. Variações energéticas entre as localidades podem ser atribuídas a plasticidade trófica (N. microps), a amostragens desiguais de estádios reprodutivos nas localidades analisadas (R. sp.1) e variações na dieta (R. sp.2). A densidade calórica de R. sp.1 apresentou correlação positiva significativa com a temperatura e negativa com a condutividade em ambas localidades, ao passo que para R. sp.2, o oposto foi observado mas apenas em uma localidade. O fator de condição foi significativamente correlacionado com a densidade calórica apenas para N. microps em uma localidade. A comparação interespecífica revelou que as espécies de Rineloricaria diferiram entre si e que R. sp.1 diferiu de N. microps, indicando que espécies de loricarídeos podem diferir energeticamente dentro de um mesmo grupo trófico e dentro de um grupo que exibe o mesmo padrão reprodutivo. Os resultados revelam que ocorrem variações energéticas intraespecíficas em loricarídeos relacionadas ao sexo, fase ontogenética, estádio de maturação e posição trófica. As variações de densidade calórica dos loricarídeos estudados demonstram que este padrão é dinâmico mesmo para espécies que ocupam um mesmo nível trófico e também dentro da mesma espécie, de modo que essas variações devem ser consideradas em modelos bioenergéticos para ecossistemas lóticos tropicais. / The caloric density is one of the most appropriate energy units for bioenergetic studies, and has recently been applied to measurements of energy flow in aquatic ecosystems. The present study investigated changes in caloric density of four fish species of the family Loricariidae (order Siluriformes). These species can be classified into two different groups regarding reproductive patterns: (i) Hypostomus punctatus and Neoplecostomus microps breed in the rainy season; (ii) Rineloricaria sp.1 and Rineloricaria sp.2 exhibit reproductive activity during most the year. Samples taken from March/2009 to November/2010 in seven sites distributed in the upper, middle and lower stretches of the Macaé River (RJ), captured a total of 279 individuals. Caloric density in the muscles were determined in a calorimetric bomb (IKA-C200) and the values obtained were related to reproductive stage, sex, sampling site and ontogenetic stage within the same species and in relation to abiotic variables (water temperature, conductivity and flow) and biological indices (gonadosomatic index and condition factor). The caloric density differed significantly among reproductive stages of N. microps males and in both sexes of R. sp2.but not of R. sp1. Patterns of energy variation along the reproductive cycle could be detected: females had higher values in maturation stage, low values when mature and showed a substantial recovery during the semi-spawned (R. sp1 and R. sp2) and spawned stages (N. microps), whereas males had low values of caloric density in semi-spent and spent stages (N. microps and R. sp2). Juveniles showed lower caloric density than adults. Differences in caloric density related to sex were significant only for R. sp.2, although, for all species, males exhibited lower means. Energy variations among localities can be attributed to trophic plasticity (N. microps), unequal sampling of reproductive stages among the sampling sites (R. sp1) and variations in diet (R. sp2). The caloric density of R. sp1 showed significant positive correlation with temperature and negative correlation with conductivity in both sampling sites, whereas for R. sp.2 the opposite pattern was observed, but only in one site. The condition factor was significantly correlated with caloric density only for N. microps in one of the sampling sites. The interspecific comparison revealed that the Rineloricaria species differ between each other, and R. sp1 differs from N. microps, indicating that loricariid species may show different caloric densities within a same trophic level and even within a group that exhibits a same reproductive pattern. Intraespecific energetic variations in loricariids were shown to be related to sex, ontogenetic stage, reproductive stage and subtle differences in trophic position. The variations in the caloric density of loricariids herein studied demonstrate that this parameter is dynamic even in species occupying the same trophic level and also within the same species, hence such variations should be considered in bioenergetic models in tropical lotic ecosystems.

M.Sc. / The tigerfish, Hydrocynus vittatus member of the Alestidae, are ferocious and fierce predators capable of consuming prey up to 40% of their size. In South Africa H. vittatus can be found in the major east-flowing rivers from the Limpopo River to the Phongolo River flowing into the Pongolapoort Dam making up the southernmost population. The Pongolapoort Dam also known as Lake Jozini is located in the high-rainfall subtropical region of northern KwaZulu-Natal. The Pongolapoort Dam wall was completed in 1973 to make it the fifth largest dam in South Africa with a total surface area of 2 445.9 x 106 m2. It was primarily built for the irrigation of sugar-cane in the surrounding regions. The Fish Health Assessment Index is used as a quantitative index that identifies morphological alterations and assigns them a score for statistical comparison. The main purpose of the macroscopic Fish Health Assessment Index is to detect gross changes in the health of fish populations through necropsy early enough for remedial actions to be put into place. Histopathology is used as an important diagnostic tool for detecting infectious and non-infectious diseases and can therefore be used to assess the health of fish populations by analysing selected target organs. Catch and release (C&R) angling has become a very widely promoted conservation tool as sport angling continues to increase. Anglers release their fish under the assumption that the fish will survive; however, the end results have been shown to vary greatly, from death of the fish to sub-lethal end points such as exhaustive exercise, injury and/or air exposure which will affect the fitness of the fish. The first aim of the study was to determine the health status of H. vittatus and C. gariepinus from the Pongolapoort Dam by means of a histology-based fish health assessment protocol applied to a total of 45 H. vittatus specimens collected in February 2009 (n = 30) and July 2009 (n = 15) and a total of 19 C. gariepinus specimens collected in October 2009 (n = 10) and April 2010 (n = 9). In the H. vittatus specimens DDT was found in the axial muscle; the concentrations of these in February 2009 (5 403.9 ng∙g-1 lipid) and July 2009 (5 537.4 ng∙g-1 lipid). The Mean Index values showed that the Kidney Index (IK), Gill Index (IG) and Fish Index (IFISH) were higher in fish from the February survey while the Liver Index (IL) was higher in those collected during July. Liver alterations identified included intercellular oedema, granular degeneration, vacuolation, nuclear pleomorphism and lymphocyte infiltration. Kidney alterations included dilation of the glomerulus capillaries, vacuolation and hyaline droplet degeneration. Gill alterations identified included telangiectasia and hyperplasia of the secondary lamella, congestion, and rupture of pillar cells.

Aquaculture is playing an important role in the development of fisheries in Vietnam, a role which has accelerated since 2000. Sustainability in aquaculture is receiving increasing attention, and this issue is not only the concern of government, but also stakeholders participating in the value chain. Therefore, this study aims to identify sustainability issues of farmed seafood by assessing the main sustainability issues raising concern. The Global Value Chain framework described by Gereffi et al. (2005) is applied for this study to explore the business relationships in supply chain and the perceptions of sustainability concerned by the value chain actors. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used to collect data. An assessment of four species cultured on the Mekong Delta, the countries farmed seafood ‘hub’, found a clear distinction between species cultured with a local domestic market orientation (Giant Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii; and Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus) and the two key export commodities - Striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) and Penaeid shrimp (Penaeus monodon & Litopenaeus vannamei). These orientations were based on a range of factors including the development of effective seed supplies and the cultural value of marketing in the live format. This study, conducted in ten provinces in the Mekong Delta from 2009 to 2013 had a focus on understanding the export-orientated commodities, striped catfish and shrimp through collection of baseline information on the value chain of farmed seafood, focusing on the farming sector, the actors and institutions involved and beneficiaries. Sustainability issues and perceptions of experts (top-down) and primary stakeholders (bottom-up) opinions were assessed through participatory workshops. Shrimp and striped catfish production are mainly farmed for export, with 83% and 95% of its production, respectively, leaving the country mainly after processing. Currently, mainly families operate small-/medium-scale farms; while large-farms are integrated within seafood processors. Production efficiency of large-farms tends to be better than small-/medium farms. Many striped catfish and shrimp farms are likely to reach several standard criteria such as economic feed conversion ratio (eFCR), stocking density, no banned chemical/drug and wild-seed use, and land property rights; however, there were still many standard criteria that existing farms could not meet such as effluent management, farm registration, fishmeal control, farm hygiene and record-keeping requirement. Hence, current farming practices, especially small-/medium farms have a long way to go to meet emergent international food standards. Recently, many small-/medium catfish farms faced problems with low fish prices, so they have had to cease catfish farming activities and temporarily stop farming; while some larger farms also had to temporarily stop farming. Therefore, fish price has tended to be a main driving force for catfish farm changes. In the shrimp industry, there were technical changes occurring in the high intensity level of shrimp farms (HiLI); whereas, the remaining shrimp farms had fewer changes in farm management. Most HiLI shrimp farms were affected by AHPNS disease, which was a main factor driving their farm changes. Many perceptions of sustainability were identified by stakeholder groups, however seven sustainability issues had a high level of agreement among stakeholders including input cost, capital & credit costs, unstable markets, government regulation & policy, disease, seed quality, water quality and water availability factors. Hatcheries, farmers and manager groups were more concerned about environmental issues; while for the input suppliers and processors, economics was the main issue. Farmers and processors were two main actors that played an important role in the production process of the value chain. Small-/medium farms dominated the number of farms overall and still played an important role in primary production. However, small-scale farms were considered as more vulnerable actors in the value chain, and they faced more difficulties in meeting increasing requirements on food quality/safety. To maintain the position in the value chain, the solutions could be horizontal and vertical coordination. Thus policy makers will need to find ways to include them in the planning processes. To reach sustainability will require the efforts of direct stakeholders, the role of the state agencies is essential in negotiation and diplomacy to create partnerships with the seafood importing countries. However, efforts to develop sustainable production become impossible without participation from importers, retailers and consumers.

M.Sc. (Zoology) / The necessity to maintain high water quality standards has become essential not only to man, but also to conserve aquatic life forms. The Olifants, Selati and Letaba Rivers were monitored for water quality variables and metal concentration in water, sediments and muscle, gill, fat, gonads, liver, bile, blood and kidney of the sharp tooth catfish, C. qariepinus. Some of the water quality variables measured were not within the limits of those standards set for the protection of fish and other aquatic life forms. Turbidity seems to be the biggest problem, due to the Phalaborwa barrage. Metal concentrations were found, in descending order, highest in the sediment, fish and water. This pose the problem of metals being reintroduced into the water column when physico-chemical conditions are not favourable. Experimental studies were done with copper on adult C. qariepinus, due to the extensive copper mining activities in the Phalaborwa region. Haematological and enzymatic analyses revealed a interference in metabolic activity after 96 hour copper exposure. Histological studies on the gill morphology, showed an alteration in the structure with a resultant change in respiratory and osmoregulatory function. LC-50 values were determined for adult and juvenile C. qariepinus in order to set new standards for the protection of aquatic lite in a rapidly developing South Africa.

M.Sc. / This project considers the feasibility of using heated cooling water from coal-fired power stations within Eskom for the culturing of C/arias gariepinus (Sharptooth catfish) and Oreochromis mossambicus (Mozambique tilapia). The work includes: an overview of world wide trends in power plant thermal effluent aquaculture, the identification of suitable power stations for aquaculture, long term monitoring of the physical and chemical characteristics of the cooling water at selected power stations, including the effects of the cooling water on the growth response, food conversion, condition factor, survival rate and suitability for human consumption of the aforementioned fish species reared in the cooling water at Matla and Kriel Power Stations.

Large catfishes (Clarias gariepinus & Clarias ngamensis) are not exploited commercially in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. They however constitute a large proportion of the gill net fishery catch (23 %) albeit as by-catch, coming second after cichlids (70 %). Monthly experimetal gill net sampling over 8 years showed that C. gariepinus was the most abundant species in the Okavango Delta by mass making up 37 % of the catch composition by fresh weight. Despite the relatively high abundance of C. gariepinus in the Okavango Delta, its status has never been fully assessed. For this reason, this study aimed to assess the status of C. gariepinus in the Okavango Delta with the particular goal to determine if the species could support a directed commercial gill net fishery. Investigation of the effects of the flood pulse on abundance of C. gariepinus showed that variability in water levels was the major driver of population abundance for this species. Three biological variables: (1) catch per unit effort (CPUE); (2) % catch composition and (3) Shannon's diversity index (H') exhibited a negative and significant relationship with the flood index within a year. The variation in these variables was statistically significant between months. There was a weak positive relationship between water levels and the biological variables between years suggesting increase in productivity of the system at high water levels without a lag period. Age and growth were determined using sectioned otoliths. Edge analysis showed that growth zone deposition occurred during the drawdown period in summer when water temperature and day length were increasing. The maximum recorded age was 15 years. Growth of this species was best described by the linear models (y = 21.50x + 427.39 mm LT; r² = 0.35) for females and (y = 23.79x + 440.83 mm LT; r² = 0.38) for males. The von Bertalanffy growth model described growth as Lt = 10000(1- exp(-0.002(t + 18.07))) mm LT for combined sexes Lt = 10000(1- exp( -0.002(t + 18.50))) mm LT , for females and Lt =908(1-exp(-0.076(t+7.95)))mmLT for males. Age at 50 % maturity was attained in the first year of life. Spawning occurred throughout the year with an apparent peak between November and April. The mean total annual mortality rate (Z) was 0.25 per year. The mean annual natural mortality rate (M) was 0.20 per year and fishing mortality (F) was calculated at 0.05 per year. The life history strategy of C. gariepinus was in between the periodic and opportunistic strategies. Therefore management of this species should be aimed at maintaining a healthy adult population and age structure. Since a large portion of the Okavango Delta is already protected and most other parts are also inaccessible to fishers there are enough spatial refugia for the species and the status quo should be maintained. Under this scenario, there is no need for regulation of the current mesh sizes because the species is harvested after maturity and replenishment of exploited populations will always occur from other parts of the system. Per recruit analyses indicate that the current fishing mortality maintains spawner biomass at levels greater than 90 % of pristine levels. Therefore a commercial fishery may be established using mesh 93 mm to maximize yield with a rotational harvesting strategy. Close monitoring is essential to ensure that re-colonization of overexploited habitats does indeed occur. Recreational angling and commercial gill net fishing need to be separated on a spatial and temporal scale during the feeding run to minimize potential conflicts.