Baleen whale washed ashore at Neendakara

On 9th October 2016, a baleen whale, Balaenoptera sp measuring 15.5m in total length was washed ashore at Neendakara Landing Centre, Kollam (Fig. 1). The animal was in highly decayed condition and identification to species level was difficult. The local fisherman reported that the animal was found drifting in the offshore for a couple of days before it got washed ashore. The Local Body authorities later buried the animal on the beach itsel

Rescue of stranded Hawksbill turtle in Kollam, Kerala

On 27th  March, 2019, fisher folks of Kakkathoppu, a coastal area of Kollam district in Kerala, India, found a Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), stranded in the rocky seashore (Fig1). The turtle was live female that weighed approximately 50 kg having a carapace length of 48 cm. According to the local fishermen, the turtle was unable to swim back to sea due to ruptured carapace and fatigued condition. On primary evaluation, barnacles were observed to be covering a part of its body and the carapace as well as head region were found exposed to sunburn

Evaluation of anti-depressant activity of zinc and vitamin B6 as adjuvants to fluoxetine in an animal model of depression

Background: Depression is a significant public health problem. It is estimated by the World Health Organization that more than 300 million people suffer from depression globally. Micronutrient deficiencies have been constantly linked to depression. The currently used drugs in treatment of depression modulate the excitatory and/or the inhibitory neurotransmission pathways through different mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to compare the antidepressant effect of the micronutrients, zinc and vitamin B6, as adjuvants to Fluoxetine in Albino Wistar rats.Methods: Eighteen albino wistar rats of 180-280grams of either sex were used in the study to evaluate the anti-depressant activity after approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee. They were divided into three groups of six rats each (3 groups). Group 1 was control group which received only distilled water, group 2 was standard group which received fluoxetine and group 3 was test group which received zinc, vitamin B6 and fluoxetine. The anti-depressant activity was measured using the forced swimming test (FST) which works on the principles of behavioral despair. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS software, version 25.0 and p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The rats of the standard and test groups had latency periods’ means of 268.83±30.16, 126.17±22.33 and 125.33±11.86 on 254.83±13.00, 118.67±8.16 and 127.17±6.68 seconds on days 1, 7 and 14 respectively (p <0.001) and the rats of the standard and test groups had despair periods’ means of 177.00±7.46, 95.17±10.65, 93.17±7.47and 167.17±14.82, 97.33±7.63 and 87.50±4.1 seconds on days 1, 7 and 14 respectively (p <0.001).Conclusions: Supplementation of zinc and vitamin B6 to the standard treatment fluoxetine yielded better anti-depressant activity than fluoxetine alone in rats subjected to stress

Subwavelength atom localization via amplitude and phase control of the absorption spectrum

We propose a scheme for subwavelength localization of an atom conditioned upon the absorption of a weak probe field at a particular frequency. Manipulating atom-field interaction on a certain transition by applying drive fields on nearby coupled transitions leads to interesting effects in the absorption spectrum of the weak probe field. We exploit this fact and employ a four-level system with three driving fields and a weak probe field, where one of the drive fields is a standing-wave field of a cavity. We show that the position of an atom along this standing wave is determined when probe field absorption is measured. We find that absorption of the weak probe field at a certain frequency leads to subwavelength localization of the atom in either of the two half-wavelength regions of the cavity field by appropriate choice of the system parameters. We term this result as sub-half-wavelength localization to contrast it with the usual atom localization result of four peaks spread over one wavelength of the standing wave. We observe two localization peaks in either of the two half-wavelength regions along the cavity axis.Comment: Accepted for publication to Physical Review

Landings of Giant Manta Rays at Cochin Fisheries Harbour

Three numbers of Giant Manta ray, Manta birostris locally known as “Aana Thirandi” measuring 220, 291 and 285 cm in standard length and weighing 680, 1080 and 1050 kg respectively were landed at Cochin Fisheries Harbour on 27th March, 2015 (Fig.1). The rays though landed by deep sea trawler, were caught by mechanized gill net boat operated at depth of 200 m off Kochi. Due to the big size of the rays caught, the gill net fishermen had transferred them to a deep sea trawler which operated nearby

Whale shark landed in Sakthikulangara Fisheries Harbour

An immature female whale shark Rhincodon typus accidently caught by a multiday trawler on 19th August 2019 was landed on the same day at Sakthikulangara Fisheries Harbour (Fig. 1) Listed as an endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources, locally the shark is known as ‘pullisravu.’ The whaleshark measured 265cm and weighed approximately 250kg. As there was no buyer for this species which is protected under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the carcass was discarded into the sea

First Record of African Angel Shark, Squatina africana (Chondricthyes: Squatinidae) in Indian Waters, Confirmed by DNA Barcoding

A single specimen of African angel shark, Squatina africana (Regan, 1908) was caught off Lakshadweep (11°5′47″ N; 72°2′21″ E), India in September 2016. The present study is a new report of the above species from Indian waters. In addition to classical methodologies, DNA barcoding was also adopted for species identification. The 650 bp-long region of mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I was sequenced to obtain the DNA barcode for the species under study. The sequence divergence value within species and between species was calculated using MEGA V.7.0, where Kimura 2 parameter (k2p) model was chosen as a distance model. The average k2p distance separating individuals within species was 1.76% and inter specific divergence was 8–10%. A neighbour joining network was constructed to provide a graphical representation of divergence between the species. Using the maximum identity with Gen Bank database, K2P divergence distance, NJ-network and traditional morphological approach, we could identify the given specimen as a mature male African angel shark

Insight into the gut microbiology of wild-caught Mangrove Red Snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (Forsskal, 1775)

Documenting bacteria present in healthy individuals forms the first step in understanding the effects of microbial manipulation in aquaculture systems. Among the commensal microflora, gut microbiota has attracted extensive attention owing to their role in host metabolism and health maintenance. Basic knowledge on normal gut microbes within a particular host species is thus essential to determine how successfully these microbes can be manipulated and engineered for sustainable aquaculture systems. In spite of the good aquaculture potential of Mangrove red snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus, the information on microbial communities associated with the gut of this fish, and their contribution towards digestive efficiency and disease resistance is scarce. Therefore, an attempt was made to elucidate the abundance and diversity of cultivable gut microbes of wild caught L. argentimaculatus along with their digestive exoenzyme profiles and prohibitory effect against fish pathogens. Results on abundance showed similar gut bacterial loads as that of other marine fish imposing the less contribution of microflora to the volume of gut materials in fish. Eleven distinct bacterial species including two proposed novel vibrios were identified. An incidental observation of Morganella morganii throughout samples is an alarming signal, emphasizing the need for immediate de-gutting to avoid histamine intoxication. Abundance of digestive enzyme producers and excellent enzymatic potential of some isolates suggested the contribution of digestive enzymes may supplement to the symbiosis between gut flora and host and the information is of interest to aquaculture nutritionists/commercial industries. Interestingly, some isolates demonstrated estimable co-aggregation with aquatic pathogens, indicating their involvement in disease resistance and the results correlated well with gut microbial diversity. These findings highlight the significant role of gut microbes towards nutritional physiology and disease resistance of this aquaculture candidate in natural ecosystem. The culturable microbiota profiles of wild fish generated in the study can be applied for measuring the quality of husbandry routines in aquaculture facility of this marine fish. Overall, the present study fetches insights on the gut microbiome of healthy L. argentimaculatus which forms a platform for follow-up studies. The study may also help in the development of “functional” fish feeds for L. argentimaculatus. The investigation also demonstrated some potential digestive enzyme-producing isolates having probiotic applications in commercial aquaculture

Unusual landings of the anthiine fish, Pseudanthias pillai at Neendakara Fisheries Harbour

Fishes of the genus Pseudanthias (Family Serranidae) also known as “fairly basslets” or “anthias” are mostly small sized, reef-dwelling fishes, which are highly sought after marine ornamental fish in the international market due to its beautiful coloration and striking patterns. An unusual landing of the anthiine fish, Pillai’s anthias Pseudanthias pillai was observed at Neendakara Fisheries Harbour, Kollam on 9.5.2018 (Fig.1). About 750 kg (25 boxes of ≅30 kg each) of anthiine fishes, dominated by Pseudanthias pillai (99%) and Pseudanthias spp. were landed in a multiday (3 days fishing trip) trawler operated at 120-130 m depth off Kollam waters, Arabian Sea