On lin e F irs t A rtic le Male Catfish Rita rita has higher Haemoglobin Concentration than Female Fish

1Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Faculty of Bio-Sciences, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Sakrand 2Department of Freshwater Biology and Fisheries, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 3Department of Animal Production Technology, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Sakrand Article Information Received 10 July 2017 Revised 02 March 2018 Accepted 11 April 2018 Available online 19 July 2018

F ish live in very intimate contact with their environment and are very susceptible to minor physical and chemical change in the surrounding.These changes can alter their physiology which may be assessed by blood parameters.The use of hematological indices in assessment of fish physiology was proposed by Hesser (1960), since then hematology has been used as an index of fish health status in a number of fish species to detect physiological changes, as a result of exposure to different environmental conditions such as handling, pollutants, metals, hypoxia, anaestehtics, season and acclimation (Blaxhall, 1972;Ogbulie and Okpokwasili, 1999;Alwan et al., 2009).No published information is available on the hematological variation in catfish Rita rita from Pakistan.Earlier various workers have published hematological studies on carps, channa and tilapia species from Pakistan and elsewhere.On the contrary very few studies are available on the catfish like (Ahmed and Banerji, 1984;Sardar et al., 1999) on Clarias batrachus and (Willam et al., 2016;Deghayem et al., 2017) on Clarias gariepinus.The aim of hematological studies was to monitor the health status and screening of blood parameters of wild R. rita in relation to sex from Indus River near Jamshoro.The present communication will help future researcher for further study on the hematological variation in different seasons especially during breeding season.

Materials and methods
For hematological studies blood samples from fish of size ranged from 21.0-33.5cmand 139-500 g in length and weight for both the sexes, respectively, were collected during March-May 2016 from Indus River near Jamshoro Sindh, Pakistan.Total 100 samples were procured and preserved for subsequent studies.Samples for blood analysis were obtained through heart puncture by sterilized syringe.
Hemoglobin was enumerated as recommended through Sahli hemogloblenometer (Hesser, 1960) and expressed in g% in broad day light from lower to the top of the measuring tube through graduation mark of miniscus.The rate of red blood sedimentation (ESR) was measured by the distance erythrocyte had sedimented in scale from top of the hematocrit tube and were enumerated as mm/h.The total erythrocyte and leucocytes counts were made with the Neubauer counting chamber.

Results and discussion
Table I show the various hematological parameters of the male and female fish.Total erythrocytes count and hemoglobin concentration was found to be higher in male compared to female (5.05 ± 0.5 × 10 6 and11.5 g/100 ml and 4.04 ± 0.5 × 10 6 and 7.3 g/100 ml, respectively).On the contrary female showed significantly higher values of erythrocyte sedimentation rate than male (4.5 and
The above ranges are in accordance with the present study.It could be due to accessory breathing organ in the experimental fish.

Conclusion
It was observed that value of total erythrocytes count and hemoglobin concentration was found to be significantly higher in case of male (5.05 ± 0.5 × 10 6 and 11.5.0%and 4.04 ± 0.5 × 10 6 and 7.0%) then female.Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate was found more in female (5.5mm/h and 4.5mm/h) than male.Leucocyte and differential count did not show significant difference between the sexes.

Statement of conflict of interest
Authors have declared no conflict of interest.