Variations in Oxygen Carrying Capacity of Sarotherodon melanotheron Blood in Different Acclimation Media

Variations in Oxygen Carrying Capacity of Sarotherodon melanotheron was investigated. The fish were acclimated using three media (brackish water, gradual reduction in salinity and fresh water) for a period of seven days. The results indicated various levels of reduction (p< 0.05) exhibited by both juveniles and adults, before and after acclimation in different media. For fish acclimated in brackish water, Oxygen Carrying Capacity for juveniles (OCC) reduced from 5.17 0.87 to 4.70 0.59, vol. % adult fish from 8.46 0.75 to 8.17 1.01 vol.%. While in gradual acclimation, juveniles from 5.11 0.95 to 3.83 0.7 vol. % adults from 8.44 0.72 to 6.02 0.73 vol. %. And in fresh water, juveniles 3.74 0.87 to 2.57 0.94 vol. %; adults fish from 8.64 0.66 to 5.87 0.70 vol.%. These variations in oxygen carrying capacity were more pronounced in fish acclimated in fresh water and least variation in fresh brackish water. Results from this study suggests that acclimation, a common procedure, in brackish water fish farming exerts some degree of influence oxygen carrying capacity of the fish and hence the need to reckon with then when reporting oxygen and metabolic related activities of this species.