Suresh, K; Dr.Mohandas, A(Cochin University of Science And Technology, January , 1988)
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Abstract:
It is well known that under certain conditions, populations of oysters
and clams are susceptible to destructive epizootics caused by pathogenic
micro-organisms. It has also been shown that exposure of mammals to certain
heavy metals causes increased susceptibility to and severity of microbial
infections (Koller, 1980). Consequently, pollutants that affect haemocyte
viability or interfere with internal defence functions of the haemocytes which
are considered as the major means of defence in moliuscs against invading
foreign organisms and pathogens (Cheng, 1981) may have profound effect on
long term survival of molluscan populations. All these justify the significance
of the present study in the context of the current status on molluscan
culture programme, and how the data on molluscan haematological studies
.could be taken as the reliable criteria for pollution monitoring studies.
Description:
School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology