Toxicological effects of the textile industrial effluent to an Indian freshwater fish, Clarias batrachus

Abstract

In this study, the histological effects of textile industrial effluent in the freshwater fish, Clarias batrachus was studied after 10, 20, and 30 days period of exposure. The 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours LC50 values were found to be 58.476, 53.231, 47.253, and 37.429% respectively. During the experiment, the treated fishes showed abnormal behaviors like erratic swimming, hyper-excitation, rapid opercular movement, and thick mucus covering which indicated the toxicity of the effluent. The observed changes in the gills were epithelial hyperplasia with lamellar fusion, necrosis, vacuolar degeneration, and atrophy of primary and secondary gill lamellae. On the other hand, the liver showed the formation of the number of vacuoles, enlargement of nuclei of some cells, degeneration of cytoplasm in hepatocytes, atrophy, a rupture in blood vessels, and disposition of hepatic cords. The kidney also showed abnormalities like degeneration of proximal and distal convoluted tubule, vacuolation of renal interstitial tissue, necrosis, cellular hypertrophy, and granular cytoplasm.