Normal Haematological Profile of Parachanna obscura as a Diagnostic Tool in Aquaculture

Parachanna obscura popularly called snakehead, a fresh water teleost belonging to the family channidae, is highly predatory no wonder it is adopted in Tilapia population. Its high quality flesh together with its good taste made it high priced fish in the local markets and hence improved its commercial and aquacultural potentials. Previous studies on the biology of the fish were concentrated on its food and feeding habits as well as age and growth. Information on its haematological characteristics is non-existent. The blood characteristics determined were leucocytes and erythrocytes count heamoglobin concentration and packed cell volume. Blood indices which include Mean Cell Heamoglobin Concentration (MCHC), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) were determined. There was no positive correlation between the physical parameters of length and weight, the leucocytes and erythrocyte counts. However significant and positive correlation existed among the haemoglobin concentration and the packed cell volume. The influence of stress due to capture, transportation, sampling age and sex on the heamatological characteristics of the fish were discussed establishment of the heamatological characteristics of P. obscura will help to determine the health status and provide basic information and data for comparative heamatological studies with other fish species as well as disease, toxicological and parasitological investigations.