Preliminary Observations on Haemosiderosis of Carps in India
| NACA/WP/86/40 | November 1986 |
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Preliminary Observations on Haemosiderosis of Carps in India |
Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA)
Dhauli, Kausalyagang, Bhubaneswar
NETWORK OF AQUACULTURE CENTRES IN ASIA
BANGKOK, THAILAND
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R.K. Dey, Dilip Kumar and B.K. Mishra
Unit for Ichthyopathology and fish health Protection
FARTC, Kausalyagang, Via-Bhubaneswar 751002, India
Heavy deposition of haemosiserin pigments in the liver and ovary of Indian major carp, Catla catla and Chinese silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitirx suffering from dropsy has been reported for the first time. Histopathological investigations revealed structural abnormalities such as disruption of normal chordal arrangements of the liver cells and their degeneration and necrosis and also damage of blood vessels in the ovary. Deposition of haemosiderin pigments in the ovary of both healthy and diseased specimens of catla may probably have some relevance with the poor gonadal maturation of the fish.
In intensive carp culture systems the importance of fish diseases representing a major threat to fish culture practices in India has been greatly realised (Tripathi 1952; Gopal Krishnan 1968; Pal 1975; Pal et al. 1973; Dey et al. 1982; Kumar et al. 1982 Mishra et al. 1982; Walters et al. 1980; Suresh et al. 1982). However, in India research in fish diseases so long was more or less limited to finding external symptoms due to diseases and application of treatment. The present communication deals with an observation on haemosiderosis in carps in India which is a phenomenon of tissue level reaction due to a disease, the exact cause and nature of which is still unknown and is under active investigations. Haemosiderin occurs in the form of brown intracellular grennules which give an intensely positive prussian blue reaction. The deposition of haemosiderin pigment in tissues is called haemosiderosia. Haemosiderin pigment deposition has been demonstrated in the liver and ovary sections of Indian major carp Catla catla especially and also in chinese silver carp Hypophthalmithchthys molitrix on few occasions collected from reservoir no. I of the Centre. This gives an indication towards a probable link between the poor gonadal maturity of catla in this pond and of the pigment formation as well as vascular pathology observed in the stained preparations (Fijan, 1983). To the best knowledge of the authors this is probably the first report of haemosiderosis of carps in India.
Paper presented in the Fourth All India Seminar on Ichthyology, Department of Zoology, D.A.V. College, Dehra Dun, India in September 1983.
As per the regular programme of checking the health status of fishes in reservoir no. I of the FARTC ponds, a representative sample of major carps rohum catla and mrigal was collected and brought to the laboratory. While rohu and mrigal appeared quite healthy externally a few specimens of catla were sick and these were selected fro thorough examinations. For histopathological studies tissues of liver, kidney, spleen and ovary of catla, rohu, mrigal and silver carp were fixed in Bouin's fluid. The tissues were processed according to standard histological methods and sections were cut (5 to 7 U thickness) and stained by haematoxylin and eosin for routine examination. Perl's prussion blue stain was used for demonstrating : haemosiderin pigment deposition in the liver and ovary of sick specimens of catla and in the liver of silver carp showing symptoms of dropsy and also in the ovary of both diseased and healthy specimens of catla. Photomicrographs of histological sections were taken.
Observations on the deposition of haemosiderin pigments were made in Indian major carps, catla, rohu and mrigal and also in chinese silver carp under routine sampling for healthy monitoring programme. Insignificant amount of haemosiderin pigments were occasionally detected in healthy specimens of rohu, mrigal and silver carp in their liver, ovary and spleen sections. However, in healthy specimens of catla considerably high degree of haemosiderin deposition was observed especially in the ovary sections. Heavy deposition of haemosiderin pigment have been demonstrated in sections of ovary and liver of catla and in the liver sections of silver carp exhibiting the clinical symptoms of dropsy with signs of emaciation and anaemis. Histopathological observations revealed that the liver sections of diseased catla and silver carp with symptoms of dropsy and also the ovary sections of the healthy specimen of catla were showing heavy deposition of some pigment which was not found in the said sections of rohu and mrigal under H.E. stain. This pro pted us to ascertain the exact nature of these pigment deposition Perl's prussi n blue stain was used for confirming the presence of haemosiderin pigments which showed intensive positive reaction by taking dark blue colour. In the ovary sections the haemosiderin pigments were found to be deposited in between the oocytes in the interstitial spaces as shown in fig. I. This profuse accumulation of pigments in the terstitial spaces in the ovary might be the result of rupture of some of the blood vessels supplying the area thereby interferring with the normal growth of the ovarian cells. The excessive deposition of haemosiderin pigments in the ovary of catla possibly may have relevance with the poor maturity condition of catla in reservoir I or the farm where the response to hypophysation by catla breeders was found to be very poor. The testes of both healthy and sick specimens of catla did not show the presence of haemosiderin pigments.
There was heavy deposition of haemosiderin pigments in the liver sections of catla and silver carp suffering from dropsy as shown in fig. 2 and 3. The pigment deposition was so profuse that the normal cellular architecture of the liver was damaged. The chordal arrangement of the liver cells was completely obliterated. The ovary of a few healthy looking catla from reservoir I was also collected along with the sick specimens and it was observed that pathological haemosidesis was present in the ovary of the healthy specimen too. This indicated a probable link between poor gonadal maturity condition of catla in this pond and of the pigment deposition as well as vascular pathology.
From the foregoing account it is apparent that the phenomenon of haemosiderosis resulting from the damage of blood vessels and bleeding in organs like ovary and liver of Indian major carp catla is a rare manifestation in fish and has not been reported so far. The primary cause of haemosiderosis could not be ascertained right at this moment but speculations are being made about the nature of the disease. which could be nutritional, toxic or infecticus. Since haemosiderosis has been recorded in catla from a pond where the fish was found to have very poor response to hypophysation owing to its in optimum gonadal maturity condition, a thorough investigation regarding the exact nature and extent of haemosiderin pigment deposition in the ovary of catla leading to poor gonadal condition is under active investigations and will be reported later on.
The authors express their sincere gratitude to Dr. A.V. Natarajan, Director, Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Dr. V.R.P. Sinha, National Project Director and Head, FARTC, Prof. Dr. N. Fijan, FAO/UNDP Consultant on Fish Diseases and also Prof. Dr. B.C. Nayak, Dean, Vet. Sciences, OUAT, Bhubaneswar for their valuable suggestions, keen interest in the work and encouragement.
Tripathi, Y.R. 1952. Studies on the parasites of Indian fishes. Protozoa: Myxosporidia together with a checklist of parasitic protozoa described from Indian fishes. Rec. Indian. Mus. 50 (1): 63–88.
Gopalakrishnan, V. 1968. Diseases and parasites of fishes in warm water ponds of Asia and the Far East. FAO. Fish rep. (44)5: 319-44.
Pal, R.N. and A.K. Ghosh, 1975. An effective method of controlling tail and fin-rot in Indian major carps. J. Inland Fish. Soc. India. 7: 98–100.
Pal, R.N. 1975. Role of fish pathology in Aquaculture. J. Inland Fish Soc. India. 7 : 131-36.
Dey, R.K., D. Kumar, B.K. Mishra and K. Suresh, 1982. Sampling methods packing and shipment of materials for laboratory diagnosis of fish diseases. Souvenir. Fish Farmere Development Agency, Balasore, Orissa, page 43–47.
Kumar, D., B.K. Mishra, R.K. Dey and K. Suresh, 1982. Role of prophylaxis in Aquaculture. Ibid. page 7–12.
Mishra, B.K., D. Kumar, R.K. Dey and K. Suresh, 1982. Monitoring of fish health in aquaculture practices. Ibid. page 27–29.
Suresh, K., D. Kumar, R.K. Dey and B.K. Mishra, 1982. The role of stress in fish diseases. Ibid. page 13–16.
Walters, G.R. and J.A. Plumb, 1980. Environmental stress and bacterial infection in channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus Rafinesque. J. Fish Biol. 17 177-65.
Fijan, N., 1983. Diagnostic work and research on fish diseases and fish health monitoring at FARTC (CIFRI). Dhauli. Fl:DP/IND/75/031. Field Document No.5, April, 1983.
Figure I. Photomicrograph of the ovary section of catla suffering from dropsy showing deposition of Hoemosiderin (H) pigment under perl's prussian blue stain.
Figure 2. Photomicrograph of the liver section of catla suffering from dropsy showing deposition of Haemosiderin (H) pigment under perl's prussian blue stain.
Figure 3. Photomicrograph of the liver section of Silver carp suffering from dropsy showing deposition of Haemosiderin (H) pigment under perl's prussian blue stain.
