Respiration in an Air-Breathing Fish, the Climbing Perch, Anabas Testudineus

1970 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-298
Author(s):  
G. M. HUGHES ◽  
B. N. SINGH

1. A study has been made of the patterns of respiration in climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) living in water containing different concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide and also in air-exposed fish. 2. The fish breathes both water and air in normal tap water. The intervals between air-breaths are irregular and vary within the range 8-15 min. 3. Air-breathing increases in water of high CO2 content. The time interval between air breaths falls with increasing CO2 content. Gill ventilatory frequency increases when 5-10% CO2 is bubbled into the water. Aquatic respiration stops and only aerial respiration occurs if more than 20% CO2 is bubbled into the water. 4. Three factors, CO2 content, pH and O2 content of water, control the respiratory patterns in climbing perch. Of these CO2 content appears to be most important for fish living in water. 5. The climbing perch can live for long periods (6-12 h during observations made) in water of very high CO2 content (20-33 vols. %). In such hypercarbic water gases are only exchanged through the air-breathing organs. The mouth and opercula are closed tightly and gill ventilation stops completely. 6. Exposure to air increases air-breathing but the frequencies are irregular. Inhalation of hypoxic gas or pure nitrogen also evokes air-breathing.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prantik Das ◽  
V V Binoy

AbstractSwimway and open field are the two popular apparatus used for measuring boldness - the propensity to take risky decisions - in various piscine species. The present study compared boldness exhibited by an air breathing freshwater fish climbing perch in a swimway, rectangular open field, intermediate stages between these two apparatus and circular open field. Impact of the modification of the start chamber by providing substratum made up of cobbles and covering the water surface using water plant hydrilla, alone and in combinations on the boldness was also tested. Our results revealed that the apparatus has a significant impact on the boldness in climbing perch. The presence of a shelter in the experimental arena (swimway) and cobble substratum in the start chamber of the apparatus were found to be reducing boldness in this fish, while hydrilla cover on the water surface neutralised the impact of cobble substratum. Repeated exposure and resultant familiarity with the arena increased boldness of climbing perch but the pattern of modification of this behavioural trait exhibited during the course of experiment was divergent across the instruments. These results point towards the need for critically analyzing the influence of instruments used for measuring various behavioural traits and considering biological needs of the subject species while designing the apparatus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-345
Author(s):  
Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan ◽  
Rita Parveen ◽  
Zannatun Nahar Jhinu ◽  
Abdul Jabber Hawlader

The study was conducted to identify the protozoan parasites in a freshwater indigenous air breathing fish, Anabas testudineus. The host fish was collected during mid of the April 2018 to end of the March 2019 from freshwater bodies of Mymensingh, Kishoregonj, Faridpur, Jashore, Manikganj and Bogura districts of Bangladesh. Five species of phylum myxozoa namely Henneguya gigas, Henneguya mystusia, Henneguyaa cerinae, Henneguya periophthalmusi and Myxidium sp., three species of phylum ciliophora namely Amphileptus disciformis, Epistylisl woffi and Trichodina anabasi and one species of phylum mastigophora namely Trypanosoma anabasi were identified in A. testudineus. Myxozoans (97.55%) were clearly dominant group than chiliophorans (2.45%). Bangladesh J. Zool. 49 (2): 331-345, 2021


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
V V Binoy ◽  
Bhagyasree J Ingle ◽  
Aniket Bhattacharya ◽  
Anindya Sinha

AbstractThe biodiversity of freshwater aquatic ecosystems is threatened by invasive alien species across the world. We studied the impact of the presence of an invasive piscine species, the tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus and acquisition of familiarity with it on the social decision-making and exploratory behaviour of a native, air-breathing, freshwater fish, the climbing perch Anabas testudineus. Our results reveal that the climbing perch did not show any significant preference or aversion to any of the stimulus shoals when unfamiliar monospecific shoals of tilapia, mixed-species shoals of tilapia and climbing perch that were divergent in the composition, or groups comprising only tilapia familiar to the subject fish for a duration of 30, 60, 90 or 120 days, were presented in opposition to a shoal with an equal number of unfamiliar conspecific individuals. No preference for isolated familiar individual tilapia was also observed against its unfamiliar counterpart or a conspecific individual. It is also noteworthy that the propensity of subject climbing perch to initiate exploration of a novel area (a measure of boldness) or exploratory activity and its sociability remained unchanged under different social conditions, including presence of unfamiliar conspecific, familiar conspecific, unfamiliar heterospecific or familiar heterospecific individuals. These results are discussed in the light of ever-increasing levels of invasion by alien fish species and the struggle for survival that currently confront native piscine species in most tropical freshwater ecosystems globally.


2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goutam Banerjee ◽  
Suhas K. Dan ◽  
Ankita Nandi ◽  
Pinki Ghosh ◽  
Arun K. Ray

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to define the location of epithelium-associated bacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of two Indian air-breathing fish, the climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) and walking catfish (Clarias batrachus). The SEM examination revealed substantial numbers of rod shaped bacterial cells associated with the microvillus brush borders of enterocytes in proximal (PI) and distal regions (DI) of the GI tract of both the fish species. Ten (two each from the PI and DI of climbing perch and three each from the PI and DI of walking catfish) isolated bacterial strains were evaluated for extracellular protease, amylase and cellulase production quantitatively. All the bacterial strains exhibited high cellulolytic activity compared to amylolytic and proteolytic activites. Only two strains, CBH6 and CBH7, isolated from the DI of walking catfish exhibited high proteolytic activity. Maximum cellulase activity was exhibited by the strain, CBF2, isolated from the PI of climbing perch. Six most promising enzyme-producing adherent bacterial strains were identified by 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. The strain ATH1 (isolated from climbing perch) showed high similarity to Bacillus amyloliquefaciens whereas, the remaining five strains (isolated from walking catfish) were most closely related to Bacillus licheniformis.


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