The last standing mangrove forest ecosystem southeast of the Niger Delta

Standing on the abandoned jetty at Iwuochang / Upenekang fishing beach in 1999 [Ibeno LGA, Akwa Ibom State] and looking across the Qua Iboe River [en-route the Atlantic Ocean] were strips of luxuriant mangrove vegetation all around the estuary. Surprisingly, 10 years later still standing on the same jetty and looking across the same River also, all the vegetation round about the estuary are now replaced by nipa palms with pockets of mangrove plants. The fear of the paper is that, there may be crash in fish supply from the coastal waters of Nigeria in the near future. The time to act is now and FISON must be pro-active in this coastal re-construction and re-habilitation. Nigeria’s coastal water is a ‘food-basket’; much should be done to protect and jealously cherish it ? else, it may be the last standing mangrove forest ecosystem southeast of the Niger delta

Preliminary study on the aspects of the biology of snakehead Parachanna obscura, in a Nigerian wetland

Between October 2000 and March 2001, a preliminary study on the aspects of the biology of Parachanna obscura, was investigated. Sex ratio revealed female preponderance [X2=4,7338, df =1, p2 = 4.735, df = 1, p = 2697,n= 408, r = 0.869, [pC. obscura [size range 9.0 18.0 cm comprises food items. The items were re-classified into seven major groups consisting of detritus [coarse fine detritus], fish juvenile and remains of fish], Insecta [un-identified adult and remains of insects, macrophyte materials, mud, Oligochoetes [earth-worm], and abiogenic sand. Fish, insects Oligochoetes were eaten as primary foods items. There was a complete ingestion of the array the dietaries by both sexes. Exception of one item [coarse detritus] during the wet season, P. obscura consumed all the dietaries during the seasons. Nevertheless, the later season increased in the ingestion of 9 out of the 10 items in conformity with optimal foraging theory. Parachal obscura is considered as piscivore-insectivore-invertivore in feeding habits. In the wake of doubts about the viability and prospects of aquaculture, farming of P. obscura is a possibility. This species possesses a number of positive attributes with regards to aquaculture. It is likely that efforts to culture this hardy carnivorous and fast-growing fish will spread in the coming years in Nigeria, breeders and fish farmers will likely give it a chance

Susceptibility of Japanese quails (Cortunix cortunix japonica) to experimental infection with Newcastle disease virus, Kudu 113 strain

This study was carried out to determine the response of Japanese quails experimentally infected with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) kudu 113 strain using a haemagglutination inhibition test and the ability of the species to transmit the infection to chickens. The administration of kudu 113 strain of Newcastle disease virus (108.5 /ml) orally at 0.1ml/quail in the infected group (group B) resulted in an antibody response with a geometric mean titre of 23.79 on day 32 when compared to non-infected quails (group A) which did not show (p>0.05) evidence of Newcastle disease antibodies throughout the experiment and also differed significantly (p<0.05) from group B, indicating that oral inoculation of the virus was successful and the birds were infected. Clinical signs of ND were first observed in the quails 7 days post-infection (pi) with effects on egg production and egg quality. The transmission of the velogenic NDV from the quails (group B) to the sentinel chickens was clinically evident 4 days after they were placed in close contact with the infected quails. There was 100% mortality in the sentinel chickens between 4 to 7 days post contact. Thus, quails could serve as a potential source of ND for chickens