A search for Mosquitocidal fish species as biocontrol agents. (original) (raw)
Related papers
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF MOSQUITO LARVAE USING EDIBLE FISH
Mosquito control has been a point of focus in scientific communities, especially health-providing units. Various methods have been tried and many more still being developed to eliminate or reduce mosquito populace. Certain environmental issues related with chemical control of mosquitoes have convinced experts to opt for eco-friendly methods. Among those methods are the biological control methods, which suppress vector populations through introduction/manipulation of organisms (natural enemies, e.g., parasites, disease organisms and predatory animals). Present study was focused on using edible fish as predator of mosquito larvae. Experimental results revealed that, edible fish have tremendous potential to be used as larvivorous predator of mosquito. It was further found that, larvivorous fish (Gambusia Affinis), used in this study preferred live larvae when compared with commercial food. The rate of consumption was between 180 to 190 larvae per fish per day, and fish preferred live larvae (65.72%) over dead larval stuff (37.14%). Another aim of the study was to determine the effect of light and dark periods on larvae consumption and it revealed that 88.75% of larvae were eaten in the presence of light and only 51.25% in dark by the mosquito fish. In micro-field condition, out of 500 larvae, only 13 (2.6 %) larvae were left, whereas rest of the larvae were consumed by the fish. The study suggests the larvivorous fish to be tried as biological control agent for mosquitoes.
The inclusion of Culex stigmatosoma and Cx. quinquefasciatus pre-adults mosquito was analyzed as live food for fish with ornamental potential (angel fish Pterophyllum scalare and zebra fish Brachidanio rerio), native (Mexican mojarra Cichlasoma istlanum) and endemic (Balsas catfish Ictalurus balsanus). Mosquito's characteristics are: high nutritional quality, movement, soft body, availability, abundance and acceptance, which position the pre-adults mosquito as a potential live food for fish species. The aim was analyzing the preadults mosquito efficacy in the feeding fish. The information analyzed show significant increases, depending on the species, in fish fed with pre-adults mosquito; increment in weight of 32.10 to 49.32 mg/day, specific growth rate of 1.96 to 3.25% body weight/day, spawning frequency every 14.40 to 28.0 days, eggs number from 506.45 to 1477.2 per spawn, offspring production from 212.71 to 1322.2, survival of larvae from 42.21% to 85.0%, and adults from 85.99% to 100%. However, and despite the good results, the cultivation of mosquitoes is not recommended, but recollection and inclusion as a live food in the diet for freshwater is recommended.
Abstract The mosquito fish, Gambusia affinis is the best alternative to insecticides and a good biological control agent. The mosquito fish collected from natural water resources, is about 2000 meter above mean sea level areas viz. Avalanche, T.R.Bazaar, Gori, Murlimund, Katteri and Ralia Dam are located in the Ooty and Coonoor Taluks of Nilagiri district of Tamil Nadu state. In order to assess the food preference of G.affinis in the natural water resource i.e. affinity towards mosquitoes immature, individual mosquito fish 50 numbers from every area were dissected the gut content and examined for the remnants of mosquito larvae, zooplanktons and other food and further estimated in terms of percentage. The result indicates that except at T.R.Bazaar and Murlimund the presence of mosquito larvae in the gut content is almost zero. The mosquito larvae forms food share 12.0% and 9.0 % in T.R.Bazaar and Murlimund, respectively. Gut content analysis shows that the other prey forms the major share in all the natural water than
Food preference of Gold Fish (Carassius auratus) and its potential in mosquito control
2009
Ornamental fishes are the most popular pets in present day world. Among these ornamental fishes, gold fish (Carrasius auratus (Linnaeus, 1758)) is the most admired ornamental fish through out the world and also in India. Most of the fish farmers associated with ornamental fish trade in India are engaged in captive culture of gold fishes. Supply of suitable food during culture period is the most vital factor to achieve good growth and survival of gold fish, but proper knowledge regarding the most preferable food of gold fish is lacking. On the other hand, age-specific food preference in some fishes has been reported earlier. So, in the present study gold fish was selected to determine its food preference and experiment was also conducted to discern any age-specific food preference of gold fish. Previous works have considered gold fish as consumer of mosquito larvae but its potential as mosquito biocontrol agent has not been studied so far. So, the potential of gold fish as mosquito biocontrol agent was also studied. From the experiment, it has been observed that gold fish has significantly higher preference for live food than artificial food, more preferably for chironomid larvae. Gold fish has significantly higher mosquito larvae consumption rate than same aged guppy and Aplocheilus sp. under same hydrological parameter was also observed. So, from this study it can be concluded that supply of live food more preferably the chironomid larvae could be beneficial to get good growth and survival of gold fish in captive culture. As from this study it has also been observed that gold fish has significantly higher mosquito larvae consumption rate than popular larvivorous fishes, so in near future gold fish can not only be used as ornamental fish but also as an efficient mosquito biocontrol agent.
Biological mosquito control is affected by alternative prey
Zoological Studies, 2015
Background Mosquitofish were introduced to several countries of the tropics and subtropics as biological agents for the control of mosquito larvae. Meanwhile, they became a threat to native communities and fish worldwide, similar to other invasive species through resource competition, overexploitation, or habitat alteration. We investigated prey selectivity patterns of Gambusia affinis (mosquitofish) preying on larvae of the two Indian major carps (Catla catla and Labeo rohita) in the presence of varied proportions of alternative prey (rotifers, cladocerans, chironomid and mosquito larvae) under laboratory conditions. Results The patterns of prey selectivity in mosquitofish were influenced by the presence of alternative prey and their relative abundance in the environment. Carp larvae, when present in equal proportions, were randomly selected by mosquitofish, however, positively selected when present in higher proportions. In the presence of Hexarthra mira, Daphnia similoides or the...
Acta Tropica, 1992
A randomized controlled trial was carried out in Assab under the auspices of the National Organization for the Control of Malaria and other Vectorborne Diseases of Ethiopia to assess the effectiveness of an indigenous cyprinodontid fish, Aphanius dispar, in controlling mosquito larvae, including the local malaria vector, Anopheles culicifacies adanensis. Cisterns, wells and barrels were found to be important breeding sites for the malaria vector and for culicine mosquitoes. Fish were equally effective in controlling mosquito larvae in all the types of breeding site investigated. The overall proportion of sites with fish that harboured mosquito larvae was 1.6%, ranging from 1.5 to 1.7% according to type of site, as compared to 34% in sites left unstocked, ranging from 17.9 to 60.0%. Monthly restocking offish where necessary was found to be sufficient to maintain an adequate level of control. Stocking of larvivorous fish in wells and household water storage containers was well-accepted by the participants, who were aware of the role of the fish in malaria prevention and found the fish useful in keeping their water free of other aquatic organisms. Based on the results of this study, larvivorous fish were introduced on an operational scale for the control of malaria transmission in Assab, with the voluntary participation of the population and the collaboration of the Municipality and health authorities of Assab.
Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences. A, Entomology
The effect of salinity levels, water source and prey density on the predatory efficiency of mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis (Baird and Girard) against the 4 th instar larvae of culex pipiens was studied. The salinity levels of 5, 10 and 15% significantly affected the rate of predation of G. affinis. All fishes have died at a salinity level of 15%. However, the predatory efficiency of both males and females was significantly higher at a 5% salinity level than that at 10%, despite fish sex or size. The number of mosquito larvae consumed by a female was higher than male at a 5% salinity level, but the reverse was observed at a salinity level of 10% despite the fish size. The type of water in which mosquito larvae or fish were bred affected the predatory efficiency of G. affinis for both male and female fishes and for all sizes of fish. Distilled water was the highest significant favorable water for predation. The density of mosquito larvae affected the predatory efficiency of G. affinis. Results showed that mosquito larvae at a density level of 40 larvae/200 ml water were the most favorable density for predation by G. affinis despite sex or size of the fish. In general, females were more efficient in predation than males despite fish size or prey density.
Diversity of larvivorous fish fauna in Lake Kolleru (AP), India
Fish that are predators of the immature stages of mosquitoes are referred to as larvivorous fish. Among all the biological control agents, larvivorous fish are most common and widely used in vector control management. A survey was conducted in Lake Kolleru with an objective to document the larvivorous fish fauna available in the lake which revealed the occurrence of 29 species of larvivorous fish from 6 orders, 14 families and 20 genera. Order mugiliformes was the most dominant group with 9 species and cyprinidae was the dominant family with 8 species. According to the IUCN (2015) red list of threatened species, 89.65% of species are at least concern, 3.44% are at near threatened, 3.44% are not assessed and for 3.44% of species data is deficient. As per the CAMP report (1998), 10 species are at lower risk near threatened, 1 at lower risk least concern, 5 are vulnerable, 12 are not evaluated and for 1 species data is deficient. Out of 29 larvivorous fish, 14 species are very common, 11 are abundant in the lake and 24 varieties of fishes are food fishes of which 14 species are cultivable. 23 species are from both freshwater and brackish water regions and the rest from freshwater region only. Several anthropogenic activities including pollution, habitat loss, human interference, over exploitation and siltation are causing biodiversity loss and seriously affecting the lake resources. The indigenous larvivorous fish species of the lake can be successfully used for integrated vector control management. 1. Introduction Mosquitoes are responsible for the transmission of various life-threatening diseases of mankind such as malaria dengue, chikungunya, etc for which many countries have adopted various chemical, physical and biological means to control the population of mosquitoes in order to reduce the incidence of malaria and other mosquitoes borne diseases. Chemical control measures pollute aquatic ecosystems, expensive and require many skilled persons for constant surveillance of mosquito breeding sites. Physical control measures are also expensive and time consuming. The use of biological agents shows no environmental contamination or mosquito resistance. Their side effects on living things including humans, domestic animals and on wildlife are minimal, if not completely absent. Biological control of mosquito larvae consists of the utilization of selected natural enemies of targeted mosquitoes and of biological toxins to achieve effective vector management for which larvivorous fish, invertebrate predators, nematodes, protozoa, fungi, bacteria, etc. are the better alternatives. Integrated vector management (IVM) efforts are now oriented towards controlling larval stages and/or the adult stages of mosquitoes using biological means, where various concerns at the ecological, environmental, social, and economical levels are highly considered (Beier, 2008) [1]. Among all the biocontrol agents, larvivorous fish are widely used in vector control. Approximately 315 fish species under seven genera are reported to have larvivorous nature and using larvivorous fish in malaria control is a renewed strategy (Ghosh and Dash, 2007) [6]. Many types of mosquito eating fish have been used in control programs across the world (Walton, 2007) [22]. Of which two non-native fish Gambusia affinis and Poecilia reticulata are extensively introduced into various parts of India for mosquito control program. But introduction of such invasive alien fish species can have negative consequences on the aquatic environment and compete with the indigenous fish fauna for food and space. Native larvivorous fish species are acceptable mosquito control agents and potentiality of these native fishes should be evaluated. Various indigenous fishes have been used for mosquito control which provides dual benefits by reducing the mosquito populations and indirectly augmenting the aquacultural economics (Chandra et al., 2008) [4] .
Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases
Background: Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are haemotophagus insects and are vectors of many arthropod-borne diseases. Present study aimed to explore species composition, seasonal abundance, spatial distribution and physio-chemical properties of larval breeding sites of mosquitoes in District Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Methods: Both adults and larvae of mosquitoes were collected through light traps, insecticide spray, mouth aspirator and larval standard dipping method in District Mardan from May to November 2017. Water samples from larval sites were physio-chemically analysed. Results: 5078 (3704 adults and 1374 larvae) mosquito specimens were collected in Mardan, Katlang and Takhtbhai tehsils. Six species in four genera were reported. Culex pipiens (89.80%) and Armigeres subalbatus (9.20%) were the most abundant species. Diversity was high in Takhtbhai (0.29) followed by Katlang (0.28) and Mardan (0.25). Greater number of specimens were recorded in peridomestic sites (9...