Haematological reference ranges of cultured Clarias gariepinus in the Lower Benue River Basin, Nigeria

• Published in: Comparative clinical pathology Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 361 - 366
• Main Authors: Adeyemo, Bolade Thomas, Obande, Roslene Ada, Solomon, Shola Gabriel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01.03.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Clarias gariepinus; Freshwater; Hematology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oncology; Original Article; Pathology; Nigeria; Guinea; Africa; Cameroon, Benue R; Leucocytes; Haematocrit; Haematology; Erythrocytes
• ISSN: 1618-5641; 1618-565X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00580-012-1624-1

Blood samples were collected from 170 cultured African sharptooth catfish ( Clarias gariepinus ) to establish haematological baseline values of this important tropical pisciculture fish species in the Guinea savannah agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. The total red blood cell count and the total white blood cell count were obtained by haemocytometry, while the packed cell volume and haemoglobin were obtained by microhaematocrit and cyanomethmoglobin methods, respectively. The results obtained varied between gender and age and were as follows: total red blood cell count, 1.72 ± 0.34 × 10 6 /mm 3 in juveniles and 4.50 ± 0.57 × 10 6 /mm 3 in adults; total white blood cell count, 15.50 ± 1.1510 3 /mm 3 in juvenile and 16.41 ± 1.21 × 10 3 /mm 3 in adults; packed cell volume, 30.08 ± 7.78 % in juveniles and 39.59 ± 3.93 % in adults; haemoglobin, 9.43 ± 3.45 g/dl in juveniles and 10.99 ± 3.29 g/dl in the adults; mean corpuscular volume, 173.75 ± 41.93 fl in juveniles and 87.01 ± 14.37 fl in adults; mean corpuscular haemoglobin, 51.11 ± 13.10 pg in the juveniles and 26.81 ± 8.61 pg in the adults, while the mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration values obtained are 32.61 ± 10.42 g/dl in the juveniles and 33.80 ± 10.0 g/dl in the adults.