Mitigating industrial pollution in urban water bodies using African Sharptooth catfishes

Department of Economics, Dhruba Chand Halder College, Dakshin Barasat-743 372, South 24-Parganas,

West Bengal, India

E-mail: jaydevmisra@gmail.com

Department of Microbiology, Asutosh College, Kolkata-700 026, India

Manuscript received online 29 January 2019, accepted 25 March 2019

Clarias gariepinus or African Sharptooth catfish survives in minimal amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in stable water aquatic systems. Clarias gariepinus has a gill structure which can trap oversized pollutants molecules, hold them for long and excretes out for organic wastes. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the impacts on urban water pollution before and after the application of Clarias gariepinus in water bodies by measuring metal concentrations in water and sediment. Results shows that concentration of more than recommended level of Cr, Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb, Cd and Ni in urban water bodies can be reduced by recruiting Clarias gariepinus in those water bodies.