Effects of <i>In-Situ</i> Cadmium Exposure on Morphometric Indices of <i>Anabas </i><i>testudineus</i>

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities have greatly affected water resources on a global scale where the world is experiencing water quality and resources issues. Heavy metal is a crucial group of pollutants that is toxic to the environment even at low concentrations due to its bioaccumulation and biomagnification capabilities in living organisms. The detrimental effects of heavy metals on living organisms are due to their bioaccumulation in the aquatic ecosystem. Cadmium may result in adverse health effects due to its high toxicity. The study is conducted to determine the cadmium exposure effects on the morphometric indices of <i>Anabas testudineus </i>which are the Scaling Coefficient (SC) and Condition Factor (K) of such species. <i>Anabas testudineus</i> is exposed to four different cadmium treatment groups namely the control group, cadmium treatment group of 0.005 mg/L, 0.010 mg/L, and 0.015 mg/L for 16 weeks. The findings of the study have reported inconsistent trends in the values of SC and a decrease in the value of K with increasing cadmium concentration. The trend for the average SC has shown an overall decrease in value while the pattern of the K value is inconsistent in each treatment group with exposure time. Collectively, no significant differences for SC and K of <i>A. testudineus</i> in different treatment groups as well as comparison between treatment groups with time exposure.