DIPTI DEY, SAILI PAUL AND BIBHAS GUHA
Abstract
Ninety-six-hour static bioassays were conducted in the laboratory to determine lethal concentrations of Dursban for the teleost fish Poecilia latipinna and alterations in organic constituents in some vital organs of the fish exposed to LC50 dose of the insecticide. 96 h LC50 value of Dursban was found to be 0.988 μl/L. The insecticide at this dose exhibited significant increase in activities of cholesterol, alkaline phosphatase and acid phosphatase of muscle, liver and gill tissues of the fish as compared to control at different exposure time, viz., 6h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 7 days. The increase in activities showed a linear relationship with the exposure time against suitable control and reached a peak at 7 days exposure. On the contrary, the amount of total protein content appeared to be lowered for all the tissues at the same exposure time against control. It was concluded that Dursban altered the organic constituents of fish which resulted in cell damage and finally the death of fishes.