Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 267 in total

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  1. Camara M, Jamil NR, Abdullah AFB, Hashim RB, Aliyu AG
    Sci Total Environ, 2020 May 30;737:139800.
    PMID: 32526579 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139800
    The evaluation of the importance of having accurate and representative stations in a network for river water quality monitoring is always a matter of concern. The minimal budget and time demands of water quality monitoring programme may appear very attractive, especially when dealing with large-scale river watersheds. This article proposes an improved methodology for optimising water quality monitoring network for present and forthcoming monitoring of water quality under a case study of the Selangor River watershed in Malaysia, where different monitoring networks are being used by water management authorities. Knowing that the lack of financial resources in developing countries like Malaysia is one of the reasons for inadequate monitoring network density, to identify an optimised network for cost-efficiency benefits in this study, a geo-statistical technique coupled Kendall's W was first applied to analyse the performance of each monitoring station in the existing networks under the monitored water quality parameters. Second, the present and future changes in non-point pollution sources were simulated using the integrated Cellular Automata and Markov chain model (CA-Markov). Third, Station Potential Pollution Score (SPPS) determined based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to weight each station under the changes of non-point pollution sources for 2015, 2024, and 2033 prior to prioritisation. Finally, according to the Kendall's W test on kriging results, the weights of non-point sources from the AHP evaluation and fuzzy membership functions, six most efficient sampling stations were identified to build a robust network for the present and future monitoring of water quality status in the Selangor River watershed. This study proposes a useful approach to the pertinent agencies and management authority concerned to establish appropriate methods for developing an efficient water quality monitoring network for tropical rivers.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  2. R. Wirdatul R. Daly, Wan Zaripah Wan Bakar, Adam Husein, Noorliza Mastura Ismail, Amaechi, Bennet T.
    MyJurnal
    Tooth wear is the loss of tooth tissue and structures not due to caries. It can occur in various forms either attrition, abrasion, erosion, noncaries cervical lesion (NCCL) or a combination of two or more forms. The objective of this study was to determine the patterns and associated aetiologies of tooth wear among adults in Kelantan, Malaysia. This crosssectional study involved 81 adults with tooth wear which was visually assessed using the Smith and Knight Tooth Wear Index (TWI). A questionnaire was used to seek putative aetiologies of the wear. Data were analyzed and the results were expressed as frequencies and percentages. Six thousand three hundred and eighty four tooth surfaces were examined in 1596 teeth. 17.4% surfaces had tooth wear; 80% scored 1, 18% scored 2 and 2% scored 3. Among the 81 cases of tooth wear, 29 (35.8%) had abrasion; 25 (30.9%) had attrition; 1(1.2%) had erosion while 26 (32.1%) had the combined type. Among those with abrasion, majority had the habit of eating freshwater clams (Corbicula fluminea) as local delicacy where most of the times people use their teeth to pry open the clam shells. Erosion was related to the pooling of carbonated drinks or beverages in the mouth before swallowing. In conclusion, most adults experienced abrasion and the most common possible associated aetiology is the way of eating clams.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  3. Saba AO, Ismail A, Zulkifli SZ, Halim MRA, Wahid NAA, Amal MNA
    Sci Rep, 2020 10 14;10(1):17205.
    PMID: 33057156 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-74168-9
    The ornamental fish trade has been considered as one of the most important routes of invasive alien fish introduction into native freshwater ecosystems. Therefore, the species composition and invasion risks of fish species from 60 freshwater fish pet stores in Klang Valley, Malaysia were studied. A checklist of taxa belonging to 18 orders, 53 families, and 251 species of alien fishes was documented. Fish Invasiveness Screening Test (FIST) showed that seven (30.43%), eight (34.78%) and eight (34.78%) species were considered to be high, medium and low invasion risks, respectively. After the calibration of the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) v2 using the Receiver Operating Characteristics, a threshold value of 17 for distinguishing between invasive and non-invasive fishes was identified. As a result, nine species (39.13%) were of high invasion risk. In this study, we found that non-native fishes dominated (85.66%) the freshwater ornamental trade in Klang Valley, while FISK is a more robust tool in assessing the risk of invasion, and for the most part, its outcome was commensurate with FIST. This study, for the first time, revealed the number of high-risk ornamental fish species that give an awareness of possible future invasion if unmonitored in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water*
  4. Salam MA, Paul SC, Zain RAMM, Bhowmik S, Nath MR, Siddiqua SA, et al.
    PLoS One, 2020;15(10):e0241320.
    PMID: 33104734 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241320
    The rapid growth of industrial and agricultural activities in Malaysia are leading to the impairment of most of the rivers in recent years through realising various trace metals. This leads to toxicity, particularly when the toxic has entered the food chain. Perak River is one of the most dynamic rivers for the Malaysian population. Therefore, in consideration of the safety issue, this study was conducted to assess the concentration of such metals (Cd, Cu, Zn, Fe, and Pb) in the muscles of most widely consumed fish species (Barbonymus schwanenfeldii, Puntius bulum, Puntius daruphani, Hexanematichthys sagor, Channa striatus, Mystacoleucus marginatus, and Devario regina) from different locations of Perak River, Malaysia by employing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Among the trace metals, Fe and Cd were found to be the highest (29.33-148.01 μg/g) and lowest (0.16-0.49 μg/g) concentration in all of the studied species, respectively. Although the estimated daily intakes (μg/kg/day) of Cd (0.65-0.85), Fe (79.27-352.00) and Pb (0.95-12.17) were higher than their reference, the total target hazard quotients values suggested that the local residents would not experience any adverse health effects from its consumption. In contrast, the target cancer risk value suggested that all fish species posed a potential cancer risk due to Cd and cumulative cancer risk values, strongly implying that continuous consumption of studied fish species would cause cancer development to its consumers.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  5. Zohari Z, Barkham T, Mohamad Maswan N, Chen SL, Muthanna A, Lee KW, et al.
    J Med Microbiol, 2023 Jun;72(6).
    PMID: 37389575 DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.001729
    In South East Asia, Streptococcus agalactiae ST283 causes sepsis in healthy adults. Raw freshwater fish consumption is the only known risk factor. These two case reports are the first from Malaysia. Although they cluster with Singapore ST283, the epidemiology is complicated by the flow of people and fish across borders.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  6. Ghaemi F, Amiri A
    J Chromatogr A, 2020 Aug 30;1626:461386.
    PMID: 32797858 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2020.461386
    In this study, the microcrystalline cellulose/metal-organic framework 199 hybrid (MCC/MOF-199) was applied as sorbent for the dispersive micro-solid phase-extraction (D-μSPE) of chlorophenols. The D-μSPE method combined with high-performance liquid chromatography- ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) was employed to determine of four chlorophenols including 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 4-chlorophenol (4-CP), 2,3-dichlorophenol (2,3-DCP), and 2,5-dichlorophenol (2,5-DCP) in aqueous. The main parameters of the D-μSPE process that influence the extraction (i.e. the amount of sorbent, elution condition, extraction time, and pH) were investigated and optimized. Based on the outputs, the presence of MCC on the surface of MOF-199 leads to improve the properties of MOF-199 and the MCC/MOF-199 has the highest sorption capacity, durability, and porosity in comparison with MCC and MOF-199. According to the validation study at the optimized conditions, the linearity for the analytes was achieved in the range from 0.1 to 200 ng mL-1 for 2-CP and 4-CP and 0.15 to 200 ng mL-1 for 2,3-DCP and 2,5-DCP with correlation coefficients between 0.9928 and 0.9965. The limits of detection calculated at S/N=3 were in the range of 0.03-0.05 ng mL-1. Besides, the relative standard deviations (RSDs) for three spiking levels (0.2, 10,100 ng mL-1) do not exceed 6.8% and extraction recoveries are between 81.0% and 88.3%. Finally, the D-μSPE-HPLC-UV method was successfully applied to the analysis of CPs in real water samples (mineral, river and wastewater samples) with good recoveries (95.8 to 99.5%) and satisfactory precisions (RSD < 6.8%).
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water/analysis
  7. Saleem AM, Taufik Hidayat M, Mat Jais AM, Fakurazi S, Moklas M, Sulaiman MR, et al.
    Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci, 2011 Jul;15(7):795-802.
    PMID: 21780549
    Channa (C.) striatus (Malay-Haruan), is a fresh water snakehead fish, consumed as a rejuvenating diet in post-parturition period in local Malay population. The aqueous extract of C. striatus fillet (AECSF) was reported to act through serotonergic receptor system in a previous study. There is no scientific report on neuropharmacological effects of C. striatus. Based on these data, the antidepressant-like effect of C. striatus was evaluated in mice models of depression.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  8. Arguelles ED
    Trop Life Sci Res, 2019 Jan;30(1):1-21.
    PMID: 30847030 DOI: 10.21315/tlsr2019.30.1.1
    Taxonomic study on the composition of epiphytic algae living on submerged leaf and root tissues of macrophyte Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms-Loubach, found at Laguna de Bay, Philippines was conducted. In total, 21 algal taxa were identified: seven Cyanophyceae, six Euglenophyceae, five Chlorophyceae, two Trebouxiophyceae and one Klebsormidiophyceae. Of these taxa, the occurrence of two rare cyanobacteria, Pseudanabaena minima (G.S. An) Anagnostidis and Synechococcus nidulans (Pringsheim) Komárek are reported for the first time in the Philippines. Two species are also reported here for the first time in the Philippines based on current taxonomic nomenclature and these are Pseudopediastrum boryanum (Turpin) E. Hegewald, Phormidium granulatum (Gardner) Anagnostidis which were based on the former names of Pediastrum boryanum (Turpin) Meneghini and Oscillatoria granulata Gardner, respectively. These taxonomic records are considered important basal information in enriching the knowledge about the diversity and habitat distribution of cyanobacteria and microalgae on macrophytes found in freshwater habitats in the Philippines.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  9. Misnan R, Kamarazaman NA, Sockalingam K, Yadzir ZHM, Bakhtiar F, Abdullah N, et al.
    J Sci Food Agric, 2023 Sep;103(12):5819-5830.
    PMID: 37092326 DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.12659
    BACKGROUND: Snail allergy is rare but can be fatal. Pila polita, a freshwater snail, was considered as a popular exotic food, particularly in tropical countries, and consumed in processed forms. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the major and cross-reactive allergens of P. polita and to determine the impact of food processing on the allergen stability.

    RESULTS: Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis fractionated raw snail extract to approximately 24 protein bands, between 9 and 245 kDa. The prominent band at 33 kDa was detected in all raw and processed snail extracts. Immunoblotting tests of the raw extract demonstrated 19 immunoglobulin E (IgE)-binding proteins, and four of them, at 30, 35, 42 and 49 kDa, were revealed as the major IgE-binding proteins of P. polita. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry identified the 49 and 42 kDa major allergens as actin, whereas the 30 and 35 kDa major allergens were identified as tropomyosin. Immunoblotting revealed that the raw snail had more allergenic proteins than the processed snail. The degree of allergenicity in decreasing order was raw > brine pickled> boiled > roasted > fried > vinegar pickled. The presence of cross-reactivity between P. polita and the shellfish tested was exhibited with either no, complete, or partial inhibitions.

    CONCLUSION: Actin and tropomyosin were identified as the major and cross-reactive allergens of P. polita among local patients with snail allergy. Those major allergens are highly stable to high temperatures, acidic pH, and high salt, which might played a crucial role in snail allergy in Malaysia. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  10. Kura NU, Ramli MF, Ibrahim S, Sulaiman WN, Zaudi MA, Aris AZ
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:796425.
    PMID: 25574493 DOI: 10.1155/2014/796425
    The existing knowledge regarding seawater intrusion and particularly upconing, in which both problems are linked to pumping, entirely relies on theoretical assumptions. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt is made to capture the effects of pumping on seawater intrusion and upconing using 2D resistivity measurement. For this work, two positions, one perpendicular and the other parallel to the sea, were chosen as profile line for resistivity measurement in the coastal area near the pumping wells of Kapas Island, Malaysia. Subsequently, water was pumped out of two pumping wells simultaneously for about five straight hours. Then, immediately after the pumping stopped, resistivity measurements were taken along the two stationed profile lines. This was followed by additional measurements after four and eight hours. The results showed an upconing with low resistivity of about 1-10 Ωm just beneath the pumping well along the first profile line that was taken just after the pumping stopped. The resistivity image also shows an intrusion of saline water (water enriched with diluted salt) from the sea coming towards the pumping well with resistivity values ranging between 10 and 25 Ωm. The subsequent measurements show the recovery of freshwater in the aquifer and how the saline water is gradually diluted or pushed out of the aquifer. Similarly the line parallel to the sea (L2) reveals almost the same result as the first line. However, in the second and third measurements, there were some significant variations which were contrary to the expectation that the freshwater may completely flush out the saline water from the aquifer. These two time series lines show that as the areas with the lowest resistivity (1 Ωm) shrink with time, the low resistivity (10 Ωm) tends to take over almost the entire area implying that the freshwater-saltwater equilibrium zone has already been altered. These results have clearly enhanced our current understanding and add more scientific weight to the theoretical assumptions on the effects of pumping on seawater intrusion and upconing.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  11. Bhatt P, Kumaresan V, Palanisamy R, Ravichandran G, Mala K, Amin SMN, et al.
    Fish Shellfish Immunol, 2018 Jan;72:670-678.
    PMID: 29162541 DOI: 10.1016/j.fsi.2017.11.036
    Chemokines are ubiquitous cytokine molecules involved in migration of cells during inflammation and normal physiological processes. Though the study on chemokines in mammalian species like humans have been extensively studied, characterization of chemokines in teleost fishes is still in the early stage. The present review provides an overview of chemokines and its receptors in a teleost fish, Channa striatus. C. striatus is an air breathing freshwater carnivore, which has enormous economic importance. This species is affected by an oomycete fungus, Aphanomyces invadans and a Gram negative bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is known to cause secondary infection. These pathogens impose immune changes in the host organism, which in turn mounts several immune responses. Of these, the role of cytokines in the immune response is immense, due to their involvement in several activities of inflammation such as cell trafficking to the site of inflammation and antigen presentation. Given that importance, chemokines in fishes do have significant role in the immunological and other physiological functions of the organism, hence there is a need to understand the characteristics, activities and performace of these small molecules in details.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  12. Tan MH, Gan HM, Schultz MB, Austin CM
    Mol Phylogenet Evol, 2015 Apr;85:180-8.
    PMID: 25721538 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2015.02.009
    The increased rate at which complete mitogenomes are being sequenced and their increasing use for phylogenetic studies have resulted in a bioinformatic bottleneck in preparing and utilising such data for phylogenetic analysis. Hence, we present MitoPhAST, an automated tool that (1) identifies annotated protein-coding gene features and generates a standardised, concatenated and partitioned amino acid alignment directly from complete/partial GenBank/EMBL-format mitogenome flat files, (2) generates a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree using optimised protein models and (3) reports various mitochondrial genes and sequence information in a table format. To demonstrate the capacity of MitoPhAST in handling a large dataset, we used 81 publicly available decapod mitogenomes, together with eight new complete mitogenomes of Australian freshwater crayfishes, including the first for the genus Gramastacus, to undertake an updated test of the monophyly of the major groups of the order Decapoda and their phylogenetic relationships. The recovered phylogenetic trees using both Bayesian and ML methods support the results of studies using fragments of mtDNA and nuclear markers and other smaller-scale studies using whole mitogenomes. In comparison to the fragment-based phylogenies, nodal support values are generally higher despite reduced taxon sampling suggesting there is value in utilising more fully mitogenomic data. Additionally, the simple table output from MitoPhAST provides an efficient summary and statistical overview of the mitogenomes under study at the gene level, allowing the identification of missing or duplicated genes and gene rearrangements. The finding of new mtDNA gene rearrangements in several genera of Australian freshwater crayfishes indicates that this group has undergone an unusually high rate of evolutionary change for this organelle compared to other major families of decapod crustaceans. As a result, freshwater crayfishes are likely to be a useful model for studies designed to understand the evolution of mtDNA rearrangements. We anticipate that our bioinformatics pipeline will substantially help mitogenome-based studies increase the speed, accuracy and efficiency of phylogenetic studies utilising mitogenome information. MitoPhAST is available for download at https://github.com/mht85/MitoPhAST.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  13. Gan HM, Tan MH, Lee YP, Schultz MB, Austin CM
    Mitochondrial DNA, 2016;27(1):595-6.
    PMID: 24730605 DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2014.908361
    The complete mitochondrial genome of the enigmatic freshwater crayfish Engaeus lyelli was sequenced using the MiSeq Personal Sequencer (Illumina, San Diego, CA). The mitogenome has 16,027 bp consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal subunit genes, 23 transfer RNAs, and a non-coding AT-rich region. The base composition of E. lyelli is 29.01% for T, 27.13% for C, 31.43% for A, and 12.44% for G, with an AT bias of 60.44%. The species has the distinctive gene order characteristic of parastacid crayfish with the exception of some minor rearrangements involving the tRNA genes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  14. Gan HM, Tan MH, Austin CM
    PMID: 24617485 DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2014.895997
    The commercial freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus complete mitochondrial genome was recovered from partial genome sequencing using the MiSeq Personal Sequencer. The mitogenome has 15,869 base pairs consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal subunit genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and a non-coding AT-rich region. The base composition of C. quadricarinatus is 32.16% for T, 23.39% for C, 33.26% for A, and 11.19% for G, with an AT bias of 65.42%.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  15. Gan HM, Schultz MB, Austin CM
    BMC Evol. Biol., 2014;14:19.
    PMID: 24484414 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-14-19
    Although it is possible to recover the complete mitogenome directly from shotgun sequencing data, currently reported methods and pipelines are still relatively time consuming and costly. Using a sample of the Australian freshwater crayfish Engaeus lengana, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve three-day turnaround time (four hours hands-on time) from tissue sample to NCBI-ready submission file through the integration of MiSeq sequencing platform, Nextera sample preparation protocol, MITObim assembly algorithm and MITOS annotation pipeline.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  16. Gan HM, Tan MH, Lee YP, Schultz MB, Horwitz P, Burnham Q, et al.
    Mol Phylogenet Evol, 2018 01;118:88-98.
    PMID: 28966124 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.09.022
    To further understand the evolutionary history and mitogenomic features of Australia's highly distinctive freshwater crayfish fauna, we utilized a recently described rapid mitogenome sequencing pipeline to generate 24 new crayfish mitogenomes including a diversity of burrowing crayfish species and the first for Astacopsis gouldi, the world's largest freshwater invertebrate. Whole mitogenome-based phylogeny estimates using both Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methods substantially strengthen existing hypotheses for systematic relationships among Australian freshwater crayfish with evidence of pervasive diversifying selection and accelerated mitochondrial substitution rate among the members of the clade representing strongly burrowing crayfish that may reflect selection pressures for increased energy requirement for adaptation to terrestrial environment and a burrowing lifestyle. Further, gene rearrangements are prevalent in the burrowing crayfish mitogenomes involving both tRNA and protein coding genes. In addition, duplicated control regions were observed in two closely related Engaeus species, together with evidence for concerted evolution. This study significantly adds to the understanding of Australian freshwater crayfish evolutionary relationships and suggests a link between mitogenome evolution and adaptation to terrestrial environments and a burrowing lifestyle in freshwater crayfish.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  17. Musa HI, Hassan L, Shamsuddin ZH, Panchadcharam C, Zakaria Z, Aziz SA
    Environ Monit Assess, 2018 Mar 22;190(4):241.
    PMID: 29569066 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-018-6613-7
    Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, a life-threatening infection in both humans and animals. Water is an important reservoir of the bacteria and may serve as a source of environmental contamination leading to infection. B. pseudomallei has an unusual ability to survive in water for a long period. This paper investigates physicochemical properties of water associated with the presence of B. pseudomallei in water supply in small ruminant farms in Peninsular Malaysia. Physicochemical properties of water samples taken from small ruminant farms that included temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO2), optical density (OD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were measured after which the samples were cultured for B. pseudomallei. Multivariable logistic regression model revealed that slightly acidic water pH and higher COD level were significantly associated with the likelihood of the B. pseudomallei presence in the water.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water/microbiology; Fresh Water/chemistry
  18. Muchlisin ZA, Musman M, Azizah MN
    PMID: 20482777 DOI: 10.1186/1477-7827-8-49
    Rasbora tawarensis is an endemic freshwater fish in Lake Laut Tawar, Aceh Province, Indonesia. Unfortunately, its status is regarded as critical endangered with populations decreasing in recent years. To date no information on the spawning activities of the fish are available. Therefore, this study provides a contribution to the knowledge on reproductive biology of R. tawarensis especially on spawning seasons as well as basic information for conservation of the species.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  19. Abu Nor N, Zamri-Saad M, Md Yasin IS, Salleh A, Mustaffa-Kamal F, Matori MF, et al.
    Vaccines (Basel), 2020 Dec 04;8(4).
    PMID: 33291587 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines8040734
    Vibrio harveyi causes vibriosis in various commercial marine fish species. The infection leads to significant economic losses for aquaculture farms, and vaccination is an alternative approach for the prevention and control of fish diseases for aquaculture sustainability. This study describes the use of formalin-killed Vibrio harveyi (FKVh) strain Vh1 as a vaccine candidate to stimulate innate and adaptive immunities against vibriosis in a marine red hybrid tilapia model. Tilapia are fast growing; cheap; resistant to diseases; and tolerant to adverse environmental conditions of fresh water, brackish water, and marine water and because of these advantages, marine red hybrid tilapia is a suitable candidate as a model to study fish diseases and vaccinations against vibriosis. A total of 180 healthy red hybrid tilapias were gradually adapted to the marine environment before being divided into two groups, with 90 fish in each group and were kept in triplicate with 30 fish per tank. Group 1 was vaccinated intraperitoneally with 100 µL of FKVh on week 0, and a booster dose was similarly administered on week 2. Group 2 was similarly injected with PBS. Skin mucus, serum, and gut lavage were collected weekly for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a lysozyme activity assay from a total of 30 fish of each group. On week 4, the remaining 60 fish of Groups 1 and 2 were challenged with 108 cfu/fish of live Vibrio harveyi. The clinical signs were monitored while the survival rate was recorded for 48 h post-challenge. Vaccination with FKVh resulted in a significantly (p < 0.05) higher rate of survival (87%) compared to the control (20%). The IgM antibody titer and lysozyme activities of Group 1 were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the unvaccinated Groups 2 in most weeks throughout the experiment. Therefore, the intraperitoneal exposure of marine red hybrid tilapia to killed V. harveyi enhanced the resistance and antibody response of the fish against vibriosis.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
  20. Saba AO, Ismail A, Zulkifli SZ, Shohaimi S, Azmai MNA
    PeerJ, 2021;9:e10643.
    PMID: 33520451 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10643
    Malaysia is one of the top ten countries in the world that produce freshwater ornamental fishes. This industry can offer better livelihood opportunities to many poor households. However, most of the produced ornamental fishes are alien to Malaysia. In this study, we explore the contribution of alien freshwater fishes to the income of ornamental fish store owners and their attitude towards alien freshwater fishes within Klang Valley, Malaysia. Using a structured questionnaire, we surveyed 70 pet stores out of which 54 (81.42%) store owners responded. Most of the pet store owners were male (72%), Chinese (83%), and the highest educational level was at the secondary level (79%). Most of the pet store owners reported a monthly income of RM 2001-RM 5000 (78%) and were married (73%). Using Chi-square (χ2) test, significant relationships (p < 0.05) existed between the attitude of store owners towards alien ornamental fish species versus educational level (χ2 = 16.424, p = 0.007) and contribution of alien ornamental fishes to the pet store owners' income (χ2 = 27.266, p = 0.003). Fish sales as the main income source also related significantly with the impact of fish selling business on income level (χ2 = 10.448, p = 0.007). This study showed that the ornamental fish sales contributed over half of the income (51-100%) from the businesses of store owners. Almost half of the respondents (42%) reported that alien ornamental fish was the highest contributor to their income from the ornamental fish sale. While the mismanagement of alien ornamental fishes could give various negative ecological impacts, the socio-economic benefits of these fishes cannot be denied.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fresh Water
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