Histological changes in the gills of juvenile African catfish (<i>Clarias gariepinus</i>) exposed to crude oil

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the histopathological changes in juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) exposed to crude oil. The study was conducted using 180 juvenile catfish with mean weight of 7.993 ±0.98g and mean total length of 9.7 ± 0.72cm exposed to different concentrations (0.0%, 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1.0%) of crude oil for 20 days (480 hours). Histopathological sections of the gills were examined and structural alterations were recorded. Histopathological alterations observed included hyperplasia of the epithelial cells, fusion of the gill lamellae, and shrinkage of the lamellae and oedema of the gill filaments. Severity of crude oil was concentrationdependent with the gill lamellae completely eroded in the 1.0% (T6) on the 20th day.