Instances of deformities or abnormalities

have been reported on and off in

fishes. The abnormality is extreme in

certain cases that it is very difficult

even to identify them correctly and

this leads to creation of new taxa

Devadoss, P

CMFRI Digital Repository

186 MATSYA . variation in blood glucose level of sexually mature Myxine glutinosa. Tandon and Joshi (1974) attributed the low blood glucose level in Clarias batrachus in spawning months due to rise In environmental factors and gonadal maturation. According to Field et al .. (1943), the NPN level in blood, is chiefly deter-mined by the balance between the rate . of protein metabolism, amino acid metabolism and excretion by the kidney. Shell (1960) also attributed protein cataboHsm as important factor for blood level of non protein nitrogen. Siddiqui (1975) has observed a low level of non protein nitrogen in April and March in Clarias batrachus. NPN in Rita rita increases in spring months which are times of intense activity and feeding. High NPN levels in September is also due to the same causes, since the fish at this time fully recovers after spawning. K. C. PANDEY AND A. K. PANDEY Institute oj Advanced Sludies, Meerut Unil1ersily. Meerut, U.P. LITERATURE aTED AL GAUHARI, A. E. I., 1958 (On blood sugar in Clar;as lazera. Z. VergJ. Physiol., 41: 26-34. BENTLY. P. J. AND FOLLETI', B. K., 1965. Fat carbohydrate reserves in river lamprey during spawning migrat ion. Life Sci., 4: 2003 -2007. FALKER, S. AND WrNBLADH. L., 1964. Some aspects of blood sugar regulation of the hag fish , Myxine gIIl/fllosa. in "The struc-ture and metabolism of pancreatic islets" (S.E. Bralin, B. Hellman and H. Krutson, cds.) Pergamon press, London, 33 -43. FEILD, J. B., ELVEHJEM, C. A. AND DAY, C .• 1953. A study of the blood constituents of carp and trout. J. Bioi. Cllem., 148: 216 ·269. JONES. R. S. E. AND MACLEOD, R. A., 1960. Biochemical studies on Sockey salmon during spawning migration and amino acid nitrogen in plasma. J. Fish Res. Bd. Can., 17: 125 -126. MACKY, W. C. AND BEATTY, D. D., 1968. Plasma glucose levels of the white SlIcker, CaleslOmus cornmersollj and Northern pike Esox lucius. Call. J. Zool., 46: 460-491. NACE, R. S. AND S CHUH, J. E., 1961. Environ-mental temperature change and blood sugar change in the toad fish, Opsamis lau. B io/. Bull. Mar. BioI. Lab. Wood Hole., 121-401. NACE, E. F., MOULE, M. L. AND SCHUH, J. E., 1964. The normal blood sugar of the toad fish. Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacal., 42: 225 -232. OSER, B. L., 1976. Hawk's physiological chemistry. Tata Mcdraw Hills Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi, 1·1472. SH ELL, E. W., 1961. Chemical composition of blood of small mouth bass Res. Rep. U.S. Fish. Wild Life SurY., 57: 1-36. SIDDIQUI, N .• 1975. Effect of feeding, spawn-ing and size on chemical constituents of the blood plasma of Clarias baJrachus (Linn.) Ind. J. Exp. Bioi., 13: 203 -205. TANDON, R. S·. AND JOSH"!, B. D., 1974. Seasonal variations in blood glucose and serum calcium levels of fresh water fish, Clarifls batrachus. Z. Teire Physioi., 33: 108 -112. UMMINGER, B. L., 1968 (Life below zero. Yale Scient. Mag., 42: 6-10. ON SOME SPECIMENS OF ABNORMAL ELASMOBRANCHS Instances of deformities or abnorma-lities have been reported on and off in fishes. The abnormality is extreme in certain cases that it is very difficult even to identify them correctly and this leads to creation of new taxa. Days (1878) description of a malformed specimen of Gymllura poecilura as Ceratoptera ehrenberg; is a typical example. Abnormalities of various ICHTHYOLOG ICAL NOTES 187 kinds in elasmobranchs have been observed by some earlier workers. Templeman (1965) described some abnormalities in Raja radiata from the New Foundland area. Other reports of abnormalities on elasmobranch fishes from rndian waters included Ihose of Menon (1959), Luther (1961). Sam Bennet (1964), Eswaran (1967). Gopalan (1971) and Nair and Chenam ( 1971). While in vestigating the elasmo-brallchs fauna of the Porta Novo coast, three instances of deformities were no-ticed and they are described presently. Fig. la. An abqnorm:ll pllasorra, Scoliodon laficaudlls 212 m in total length. Fig. lb. A ma lfor med ray. Dasyuris jellkinsii measurin g 280 mm aCl oss disc. Fig. Ie. A derormed skate. ,'\Iarkc' dipfern:ia 148 mm in tOl:tl length . MATSYA Deformed Pa/asorra: An instance of monozygotic twins of S coliodon /ati-caudus has been noticed . They are preserved in the Museum of the Marine Biological Stations of Annamalai Uni versity, PortaNova. Both are males and are joined from the pectoral region to the cloaca (fig. J a). One of them is head less and the distance between the pectoral and cloaca is same in both . juvenile forms, but in the defonned one the tail portion is much shorter. It is twisted in a ' U ' shape thri ce and the curved portions are joined by skin. The normal one measured 212 mm in TI. A branch of posterior aorta from in between the pectorals of the nonnal speci men is seen entering the corres-ponding region of the abnormal one. All the fins are normal except the ca udaL Previous observations of similar nature are by GoppJa n (1971) on a dOll ble headed Carcharias walbeehmi. Malformed Ra)': Another insta nce of malformation has been noticed in a female sting ray, Das)'aris jenhnsii 280 mm across disc (fig. J bJ in which the pectoral fins are found separated from the head but otherwise normaL This abnormality is a result of the failure of the anterior robes of both the pectorals to fuse with lhe head during the embryonic development. There was no previous observation of such a kind in thlS species. Deformed Skate: A female numb-fish, Narke dipterygia 148 mOl in Tl with a deep scar on the dorsal side of the disc was recorded. This indicated that the deformity was presumably caused by an injury. The rough black scar had a depth of 10 mm on the dorsal side above the left pelvic fin. The roughness of the scar is seen clearly against !he background of velvety smoothness of the animal. As a result of this, the left pelvic fin has, wrinkled and twisted up. The impact of the injury is so much that the growt h of the left pelvic fin has been retarded (fig. Ie). Hence the difference in sizes of the two pelvi c fins. The vertebral column has also curved towards the left side. Except these defo rmities the specimen appeared to be normal. The author is grateful to Dr. R. Natarajan, Director, Centre of Advan-ced study in Marine Biology, Porto' Novo for guida nce a nd to the authori-tiesof Annamalai Univer-sity for finan-cia! assistance. P. DEvADoss Mang%re Research Cenlre 0/ CM FR (lI stilUTe, Bolar, Mangalore-575 001 LITERATURE Crn:o DAY, F. , 1878. fi"s /tf!S of India, f: 736-741. EsWARAN, C. R., 1967. On an abnonnal ray from the Gulf of Kutch. J. mar. bioI. Ass. India. 9(1) : 198 -200. GOP'ALAN, U. K ., 197 1. On two ab norma l sharks from G ujarat. J. BombCl)' liar. His! . Soc .. 68(2): 465 -466. LlfTHER. G .. 196 1. On an apparentfy specific rype of abnonnaliry in the wh it e-spotted shove!nose ray, Rhynchobollfs djiddensis. f. mar. bioI. Ass. India, 3: 198-203. MENON, M., 1959. On some abnormal sharks pre~rved a t the Marine_ biological station. West H ill. Dept . . Fisheries, GOV!. Madras. 191-194. NAlR, K. V. S. AND C HELLAM , A., 1971. An abnormal st ing ray caught off Calicut. Indian J. Fish., J8: 193-1 95. SA~t BENNET, P., 1964. On an abnormal ray from Vizhinjam. J. mar. bioI. Ass. Iudia , 6(2): 316-317. TEMPLEMAN, W. , 1965. Some abnormal ities in skates (Raja) of the Newfoundland area. J. Fish . Res. &/. Cal/ada, 22(1): 237 -238. 

On some specimens of abnormal elasmobranchs

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On some specimens of abnormal elasmobranchs

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