Developing protocols for assessing hematological and biochemical parameters in wild and aquacultured rabbitfish, Siganus rivulatus / by Nivin Abdallah Nasser.

Abstract

Aquaculture has become a mature agricultural industry. As with all farmed animals fish get stressed and diseased. To better farm them, hematological and biochemical parameters can be used to assess their health condition and immune status as well as nutritional state. The aim of the present work was to develop suitable methods to investigate various hematological and biochemical parameters of Siganus rivulatus using standard procedures developed for mammalian hematology but adapted and modified for the present purpose. Results establish baseline values for wild Siganus rivulatus captured from Ain El Mreisseh beach in Beirut. The hematological and biochemical parameters determined were total red and white blood cell counts, differential white blood cell counts, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, glucose levels, lactate levels, plasma protein concentration, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and serum lysozyme activity. These hematological and biochemical parameters were then compared to those of cultured specimens of Siganus rivulatus, caught at the same time and placed in a holding system for two weeks to determine if there are significant effects of aquaculture conditions on natural metabolic functions of the fish. Twenty-five wild fish and 25 cultured fish were examined. The mean values for hematocrit (Hct), total white blood cell counts, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and glucose were significantly different (P 0.05) between wild and cultured S. rivulatus. No significant differences (P 0.05) were found for total red blood cell counts, hemoglobin (Hb), differential white blood cell counts, lactate levels, total plasma protein, and AST between wild and cultured S. rivulatus. ALT and lysozyme activities were reported as ranges for wild and cultured S. rivulatus. The study showed that variation in diets and environmental conditions can have significant effect on the physiological status of the fish. Determining reference ranges for these parameters can provide a us