Affiliation:
1. SVKM’s Mithibai College of Arts, Chauhan Institute of Science and Amrutben Jivanlal College of Commerce and Economics (Autonomous) Bhaktivedant Swami Marg, Vile Parle - West Mumbai 400 056 India.
Abstract
The present study was undertaken to investigate the toxicological effect of uoride (as NaF) on chromatophores in skin of
larvivorous sh, Poecilia reticulata Peters after chronic exposure. Guppy is supposed to be amongst the most colourpolymorphic vertebrates in the animal kingdom. Fish were exposed to three sub-lethal concentrations of Sodium uoride viz. lowest (5.75 ppm),
lower intermediate (7.18 ppm) and higher intermediate (9.58 ppm), which were selected on the basis of 96 hrs. LC value of 115 ppm. 50
Anomalous behavioral alterations observed in NaF intoxicated sh were restlessness, erratic swimming movement, periodic surface to bottom
movement, recurrent surfacing activity, loss of equilibrium, amplied gulping and increased opercular activity were pragmatically seen.
Signicant variation in colouration was observed in all the experimental groups as compared to control. The melanophores showed notable
pigment aggregation state and/or pigment dispersion state. Structurally, melanophores were distinguished into three types viz., reticulate,
stellate and punctuate. The severity in distortion of structure and number of chromatophore increased with increasing concentrations of uoride.
Several distortions in morphology and even functional integrity of chromatophores when compared with the control group were observed, for
instance, rupture of pigment cells accompanied by breakage in dendritic processes, conversion of one type of chromatophore into another type,
augmentation and detachment between adjacent chromatophores, variation in number with complete loss of cellular activity. The derangement
in structural integrity was observed to be dose dependent and increased with increasing concentrations of Sodium uoride, thus making the sh
unt for survival. The attractive pigmentation of the male Guppy sh was abridged making them less attractive for their mate thus affecting
reproductive potential of the sh.
Reference26 articles.
1. APHA, AWWA and WEF, (2005): Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water, 21st Edition. American Public Health Association Washington DC.
2. Bagnara J.T. and Hadley M.E. (1973): Chromatophores and colour change Prentice- Hall Englewood Cliffs 202.
3. Bajpai Sandeep and Madhu Tripathi (2012): Alteration in Pigmentation after Fluoride Exposure in Stinging Cat Fish Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch), Cibtech Journal of Zoology, 1(2): 47-52.
4. Farha Aziz, Rafia Azmat and Farah Jaben (2013): Skin Permeability Induced Absorption of Metals under Fluoridation in Edible Fish Notopterus notopterus, Keenjhar Lake, Thatta, Pakistan. International Journal of Environmental Science. 3(6): 2339-2347.
5. Fujii R. (1969): Chromatophore and pigments In: Fish physiology (Edition W.S. Hoar and D.J. Randall) Academic Press 3: 307.