International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.20, 188-199
188
Research Article Open Access
On Some Cases of Fish Anomalies in Fishes from the Port of Jubail, Saudi
Arabia, Arabian Gulf
Laith A. Jawad
1
, Mustafa Ibrahim
2
1 Flat Bush, Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand
2Ministry of Agriculture, Fish Welfare Branch, El-Jubail Province, Saudia Arabia
Corresponding email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No. 20 doi
Received: 26 Apr., 2017
Accepted: 23 May, 2017
Published: 07 Jun., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Jawad and Ibrahim, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Jawad L.A., and Ibrahim M., 2017, On some cases of fish anomalies in fishes from the port of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf, International Journal of
Marine Science, 7(20): 188-199 (doi
Abstract
Cases of
deformities in the operculum, dorsal fin and cases of albinism, color disorder and hyperostosis were observed
and examined in fish samples collected from the Jubail City, Saudi Arabia. An attempt was made in this study to find a possible
relationship between these anomalies and several types of pollutants presents in the environment. The assessment of abnormalities
was carried out by their diagnosis morphologically. All cases were not fatal as they occurred in adult individuals. The possible causes
for such deformities as well as the suitability of this kind of study for environmental monitoring are discussed. Further studies are
needed to relate specific pollutants with the observed types of deformities.
Keywords
Deformities; Operculum; Fins; Albinism; Color disorder; Hyperostosis
Introduction
Since the 16
th
century, the anomalous fish specimens were attracted the attention of scholars (Berra and Au, 1981),
since then enormous amount of literature has been added to the world data bases on the subject of fish
abnormalities in fish species in both aquaculture and wild (Boglione et al., 2006; Jawad and Hosie, 2007; Jawad
and Öktoner, 2007; Koumoundouros, 2008; Jawad and Al Mamry, 2012; Rutkayováet al., 2016; Jawad et al.,
2016).
The first mentioned about pughead deformity was in 1929, when Gudger (1928) suggested that the French
naturalist Pierre Belon in 1554 was the first to publish the first figure of a pughead deformity in female salmonid
female fish. On the other hand, Buckland (1877) is believed to have published the earliest account on this case of
abnormality in salmonids. Large number of publications have appeared to report on this condition in different
species of fish (Hickey et al., 1977; Shariff et al., 1986; Al-Hassan, 1988; Jawad and Hosie, 2007; Macieira and
Joyeux, 2007; Jawad et al., 2014; Jawad et al., 2015). Pughead deformity is an abnormal osteological condition
that results in the aberration of the maxilla, premaxilla, or infraorbital bones, with variable degrees of severity
(Hickey, 1972). The affected specimens often show bulging eyeballs, acutely steep foreheads, and incomplete
closure of the mouth (Shariff et al., 1986). The pughead abnormality is generally rare in wild populations, and the
majority of documented instances have been based on single specimens (Dahlberg, 1970; Berra and Au, 1981).
Operculum deformities are part of the cranial anomalies affected several bones in the front part of the fish skull.
Such abnormality is common in aquaculture stock and may reach to 80% of the reared individuals
(Koumoundouros, 2010). On contrary it is rare in the wild (Divanach et al., 1996). Anatomically, operculum
anomalies are related to inside or outside folding, shortening or abnormal positioning of the opercular and
subopercular bones, both bilaterally or monolaterally (Verhaegen et al., 2007; Fernandez et al., 2008). This
abnormality develops during the pre-flexion and flexion stage (Koumoundouros, 2010). Opercular plate reduction
or folding leaves the branchial arches more exposed to injuries or parasites, so affecting the health status of
affected fish (Boglione et al., 2013).
