Preparatory enquiry on cephalic abnormality in hatchery raised Heterobranchus longifilis and its aquacultural consequence

Abstract

Edoja AG, Nwachukwu HJ, Chukwuma DF

Cephalic abnormality (gill arch malformation) in four mating combinations involving cephalic and noncephalic male and female Heterobranchus longifilis broodstocks were investigated in order to assess its frequency of level of occurrence in the offsprings and if it has any genetic basis. Percentage fertilization and hatchability were not significantly different (P0.05) in all the mating combinations. Weight gain (4.4 g) and survival (75%) were highest in mating combinations involving the non-cephalic male × non-cephalic female and non-cephalic male × cephalic female respectively which were significantly different (P0.05) from the other mating combinations. The very low level of cephalic abnormality observed in the offspring of all the mating combinations at 12 weeks possibly indicate the involvement of other factors rather than genotype in the occurrence of this morphological aberration. lis.