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Many human activities can greatly influence and alter the health of aquatic ecosystems. In this regard, the quantitative analysis of macroinvertebrates and their relationships with ecological variables is an effective method in environmental monitoring programs. Here, we used the benthic macroinvertebrate community as bioindicators for assessing anthropogenic impacts on coastal waters in southeast Bangladesh. Sediment samples were collected seasonally from three different sites influenced either by mangrove forests, aquaculture activity or sewage input. The indicator value index (IndVal) analysis revealed 23 species of benthic macroinvertebrates as potential bioindicators namely Enigmonia aenigmatica, Mactra chinensis and Pharella javanica of the class Bivalvia; Tubifex tubifex of the class Clitellata; Lithopoma brevispina, Bullia vittata, Pomacea maculata and Umbonium vestiarium of the class Gastropoda; Gammarus roeselii of the class Malacostraca; and Amphicteis gunneri, Amphitrite ornata, Aricidea simplex, Cirratulus cirratus, Heterospio catalinensis, Hypereteone foliosa, Lopadorrhynchus henseni, Neanthes chingrighattensis, Micronephthys oligobranchia, Nephtys hombergii, Nereis jacksoni, Nereis zonata, Polyodontes maxillosus and Stygocapitella subterranean of the class Polychaeta. Their composition across three sites varied significantly (P 0.05) due to influence of environmental conditions as inferred from redundancy analysis. Polychaeta, Gastropoda and Malacostraca were susceptible to sewage input, while Bivalvia and Clitellata were susceptible to aquaculture effluent. The results of this baseline study suggest that the identified benthic macroinvertebrate species can potentially be used to monitor anthropogenic disturbances in the marine environment.

The Karnafullly River, which flows through Chattogram and falls into the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, is vulnerable to microplastic contamination. In this study, we looked at microplastics in the Karnafully River's surface water (5 sites), sediment (9 sites), and biota (4 species). Microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.57 ± 0.07 to 6.63 ± 0.52 items/L in surface water, 143.33 ± 3.33 to 1240 ± 5.77 items/kg dry weight in sediment, and 5.93 ± 0.62 to 13.17 ± 0.76 items/species in biota. A significant difference (P 0.05) was found in the concentration of MPs in the Karnafully River's sediment, biota, and surface water. High percentage of fiber-shaped and small-sized MPs (1 mm) were detected throughout the samples. Water and sediment MPs were often transparent/white and blue, whereas biota MPs were mostly black and red, indicating a color preference during biological uptake. The Bay of Bengal received 61.3 × 10

The bacterial population plays a crucial role in recycling the organic matter and metabolizing the toxic nitrogenous compounds under biofloc technology (BFT). The biofloc technology has been successfully implemented for several fish species, but not for shrimp culture in Bangladesh. The major objectives of this study were to determine the effects of stocking density on the growth performance of tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon under biofloc technology (BFT) rearing system using commercial probiotics and to investigate the abundance of total heterotrophic bacteria (THB) and vibrio-like bacteria (VLB) in different biofloc treatments and their water quality parameters. The experiment was conducted with three different stocking densities in three BFT tanks (2.5 × 2.0 × 1.0 m) with triplicate and three control tanks filled in clearwater. All these tanks were built with cement and can contain 5000 L of water. Visually healthy, disease-free P. monodon postlarvae (weighted 0.18 ± 0.02 g) were collected from a local hatchery and stocked in three different stocking densities, i.e., 400 PL/m3 (CW), 400 PL/m3 (BFT1), 450 PL/m3 (BFT2) and 500 PL/m3 (BFT3). Shrimps were fed four times a day with commercial feed (Biomer, 40 % crude protein) for 127 days. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in specific growth rate, food conversion ratio, and protein efficiency ratio of shrimp were found among the treatments and the control group. The overall final biomass in BFT1 (5.88 ± 0.12 kg m3) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of other BFT groups and the control (3.40 ± 0.09 kg m3). The present findings showed that the biofloc technology with lower stocking density was reducing the total ammonia nitrogen, nitrite-N, and nitrate-N in water and significantly increased THB and reduced VLB populations.

Tropical hilsa shad, which is an anadromous fish migrating from the sea to spawn in freshwater river, constitutes an important fishery in some Asian and Middle East countries, particularly in Bangladesh. But, historical information on hilsa biology and ecology has confronted the scientists and policymakers with research and management challenges. We have reviewed both the old and recent findings on hilsa fishery to document the status of knowledge and potential gaps, necessary to comprehend for formulating a more effective fishery management plan. Thus, there has been a decline in hilsa catches in the riverine system associated with shift in fish migration routes, indiscriminate harvesting of brood and juvenile fish, and degradation of habitat. Specifically, the riverine hilsa catches peaked in the 1960s, declining thereafter, and became relatively abundant in marine waters since 1990s. Biological data indicated that hilsa goes through multiple reproductive cycles; therefore, a comprehensive understanding of reproductive biology, recruitment by various cohorts, stock abundance and habitats across the life cycle are necessary to accurately impose fishery regulatory measures, such as fishing ban in spawning season in Bangladesh. Moreover, domestication initiative is important for artificial seed production and mariculture development of hilsa that can not only offer economic return to small‐scale farmers but also reduce the growing pressure on capture fishery. Importantly, the arrangement of co‐management is found ideal as fishermen, scientists and managers can work jointly to improve the regulatory processes and to sustain the hilsa fishery over time.

This study examined the effects of an herbal extract composed of nine herbs i.e Aloe vera, Andrographis pariculata, Annona squamosa, Azadirachta indica, Citrus aurantifolia, Coriandrum sativum, Ocimum sanctum, Ollium cepa and Psidium guajava on growth, survival rate and immunoprotection against pathogenic Vibrio harveyi in the tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon. The petroleum ether, methanol and N-hexen extracts of different herbal plants were selected, processed and thoroughly mixed in equal proportions and added to the shrimp diets at a concentration of 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 mL kg−1. After 60 days of feeding, shrimps were challenged with V. harveyi bacteria (1 × 107 cells mL−1), which were isolated and propagated from the infected shrimps. The shrimps fed on diets with methanolic extraction of 2.5 mL kg−1 had significantly (P

The temporal distribution pattern of zooplankton communities was studied in coastal waters of the northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, during a 1-year period of investigation (May 2014-April 2015). Throughout the investigation, a total of 38 zooplankton species were recorded, in details 22 holo-plankton and 16 mero-plankton species. Copepods (Acartia danae, Acartia tonsa, Cyclops biscuspidatus, and Canthocalanus pauper), amphipods (Grandidierella megnae), shrimps (Penaeus indicus and Penaeus merguiensis), Acetes (Acetes indicus), and mysids (Americamysis bahai) were the dominant zooplankton taxa. The maximum abundance of total zooplankton and species richness was recorded in monsoon season whereas abundance of holo-plankton and species diversity was recorded in winter. Multivariate analyses revealed that the temporal pattern of species distribution of zooplankton communities significantly differed among the four seasons. RELATE analysis signified that temporal variation in species distribution and community structure of zooplankton significantly correlated with ecological condition of water. Moreover, BEST matching analysis indicated that NO2-N along with salinity, rainfall, transparency, TDS, TSS and pH were the main driving forces for these temporal variations in species distribution and community composition of zooplankton communities. Finally, correlation analysis showed that species evenness and diversity significantly correlated with salinity, transparency and TDS. These results suggest that zooplankton distribution pattern might be shaped by ecological condition of water in such marine ecosystem and may potentially be used as bioindicators of marine water quality.

Among the various potential sources of renewable energy, biofuels are of most interest. Marine microalgae are the most promising oil sources for making biofuels, which can grow very rapidly and convert solar energy to chemical energy via CO2fixation. The fatty acid profile of almost all the microalgal oil is suitable for the synthesis of biofuel. In this research, fatty acid and lipid contents of Bangladeshi strains of marine microalgaeSkeletonema costatumwere performed. For this, the crude oil was extracted by Soxhlet extraction method, using three most common solvent systems, pure hexane and mixture of CHCl3 : MeOH (2 : 1) and hexane : EtOH (3 : 1) one by one. Highest oil recovery (15.37%) came from CHCl3 : MeOH (2 : 1) solvent system from dry biomass whereas the lowest (2.49%) came from n-hexane from wet biomass. The qualitative analysis of the extracted oil by GC/MS analysis revealed that it contained significant amount of myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), and palmitoleic acid (C16:1). It also indicated presence of hexadecatrienoic acid, benzenedicarboxylic acid, oleic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 9-Octadecenoic acid methyl ester (C19H36O2), and so forth. The obtained fatty acid profile indicates high potentiality ofS. costatumspecies to be used as promising biofuel feedstock a little improvisation and substantially it can replace diesel in near future.