Journal of Environment and Sociobiology

Lakshman Nayak ¹, B. K. Baliarsingh ¹, S. K. Swain ², Laishram Kosygin ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Marine Sciences, Berhampur University, Berhampur 760 007, IN
2 Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar 751 002, IN
3 Zoological Survey of India, J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700 016, IN

Abstract

A systematic checklist of freshwater fishes of Balasore district of Odisha, India was provided. A total number of 66 species of fishes under 47 genera, 25 families and 8 orders has been recorded. Highest species diversity was observed in the Cyprinidae (42.4%), followed by Siluridae (22.7%). The fish fauna includes 2 vulnerable (VU), 2 near threatened (NT), 46 least concern (LC), 3 data deficient (DD) and 13 not assessed (NA) species as per IUCN. The present fish fauna is a composite of primary freshwater fishes, estuarine fishes and widely distributed forms. The present finding shows that Balasore district is blessed with diverse fish fauna including numerous economically important food fishes. The water quality of the rivers and streams of the district are not contaminated as the value of pH and DO are within the tolerance limit of class 'D' water prescribed for fish culture and wild life propagation.

Keywords

Fish Diversity, Physico-Chemical Characteristics, Balasore, Odisha.

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Nibedita Mohanty ¹, Mitali Priyadarsani Pati ¹, Lakshman Nayak ¹, Satyabrata Das Sharma ¹

Affiliations
1 P. G. Dept. of Marine Sciences, Berhampur University, Bhanja Bihar, Odisha, Pin - 760 007, IN

Abstract

Two important species of crabs from the Chilika lagoon were selected for analysis of trace metal concentration. These two species were Scylla serrata and Portunus pelagicus, of which S. serrata attains the highest length of 13.2 cm and weight 238.52 gm, while the highest length and weight of Portunus pelagicus was observed to be 8.5 cm and 92.3 gm respectively. Heavy metal concentration of Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn was observed in the muscles, body carapace and leg carapace. The metal concentration was lowest in the muscle. Metal concentration of Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn varied from 3.8 to 5.5 ppm, 14.4 to 18.4 ppm, 6.1 to 9.1 ppm and 152 to 211 ppm dry weight respectively in the leg carapace. Similarly the concentration of metals in the muscle were in the range of 3.8 to 5.1 ppm, 14.4 to 17.5 ppm, 4.8 to 7.4 ppm and 129 to 188 ppm dry weight for Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn respectively. Metal concentration in the body carapace for these four metals varied from 3.8 to 5.3 ppm, 15.2 to 18.2 ppm, 5.8 to 8.6 ppm and 152 to 193 ppm dry weight respectively. Scylla serrata contained higher muscle concentration of Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn than the other species of crab, viz., P. pelagicus. There was no correlation between body size and heavy metal concentration. However, the metal concentration found in the present study was lower to metal concentration levels of crab from other parts of the world and as such there is no public health problem in consuming these crabs from the Chilika lagoon, Odisha.

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