Octopus — a potential marine resource from southwest coast of India

Octopus fishery has a long history in Japan and some European countries whereas in India exploitation has just been initiated and they are landed as bycatch in shrimp trawlers from southwest coast and east coast. The present study indicates that octopus landings are showing an increasing trend along the southwest coast of India. Octopus membaranaceous the dominant octopus species landed at Cochin Fisheries Harbour. Octopus lobensis the dominant octopus species landed at Neendakara harbour. Cistopus indicus and Octopus dollfusi, formed about 3% each of the total ocotopus landed at both the centres. Another Octopus sp. with extremely long fourth arm, about 85 to 87% of the toted length was observed in stray numbers in Cochin Fisheries Harbour landings. There is good demand for frozen octopus for export in recent years. As the demand is increasing, over exploitation due to increased fishing pressure in this area is possible which may ultimately lead to stock depletion. It is suggested that measures should be taken at this stage itself for rational exploitation of this resource. Detailed studies on the distribution, biology and population dynamics is essential to evolve effective fishery management measures for Judicious exploitation of this resource

Effect of tanning agents in the grafting of vinyl polymers in collagen

The influencc of tanning agents on the grafting of methyl methacrylate onto collngen has been investigated. The results obtained indicated that zirconium and aluminium tanning lead to increased degree of grafting; where as chromium, syntan and vegetable tannages lead to a decrease in percentage grafting. Although Ce (IV) has been shown to oxidise the Cr (III) complexes that are involved in talnning, percentage grafting is not rcduced very much. More than the competition of tanning agents for grafting sites, the initiator tanning agent reactions govern mainly the grafting efficiency

Low saline aquaponics system with Silver Pompano as a candidate species

Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that integrates hydroponics and aquaculture practices in order to attain optimum utilization of nutrients by re-cycling. Aquaponics facilitates the symbiotic production of vegetables and fishes with minimum inputs, organic farming like management and higher control on production. Aquaponics system is extremely water efficient, does not require soil and does not use fertilizers or chemical pesticides. Silver pompano Trachinotus blochii is a preferred candidate species for mariculture due to the availability of hatchery produced seed, adaptability to commercial pellet feeds, good market demand and excellent meat quality. The species has proven good for farming in both marine as well as low saline water bodies. Adopting the principles of nutrient utilization in aquaponics and the ability of silver pompano to grow in low saline conditions, a prototype of a low saline aquaponics system integrating one month reared fingerlings of silver pompano T. blochii, with a common, leafy vegetable Amaranthus by employing a 0.25 hp submersible pump for recirculation was developed