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Family Dasyatidae Dasyatidae (stingrays) are the dominant group of rays in the coastal tropical Indo-West Pacific. While stingray taxonomy is problematic, recent revisions have vastly improved knowledge of this family (Last et al. 2016a). Dasyatidae are amongst the most commonly landed ray groups in Bangladesh, with high demand for consumption and accessories (Last et al. 2016a; Haque et al. 2018). This report identified seven species of Dasyatidae rays in addition to the 24 species previously reported in Bangladesh (Roy et al. 2015)., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 213, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Last, P., Naylor, G., Seret, B., White, W., de Carvalho, M. & Stehmann, M. (2016 a) Rays of the World. CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, ix + 790 pp.","Haque, A. B., Biswas, A. & Latifa, G. A. (2018) Observations of shark and ray products in the processing centres of Bangladesh, trade in CITES species and conservation need. TRAFFIC Bulletin, 30 (1), 6 - 14.","Roy, B. J., Singha, N. K., Rhaman, M. G. & Ali, A. H. M. H. (2015) Status and recorded of sharks and rays in the Bay of Bengal of Bangladesh Region. Brazilian Journal of Biological Sciences, 2 (4), 343 - 367."]}

Family Narcinidae One specimen of Narcine was recorded which appears to be consistent with N. sp. of Psomadakis et al. (2020). This appeared to be morphologically similar to N. brevilabiata and N. atzi. Further specimens are required to confirm the species identification therefore this species is tentatively identified as Narcine sp. (Figure 14). (sensu Psomadakis et al. 2020)., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 224, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Psomadakis, P., Thein, H., Russell, B. C. & Tun, M. T. (2020) Field identification guide to the living marine resources of Myanmar. FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. FAO, Rome, 840 pp."]}

Genus Neotrygon The Neotrygon kuhlii species complex has recently been expanded (Last et al. 2016). These taxonomic revisions, however, did not consider Bay of Bengal specimens in detail. To date, two species have been recorded from Bangladesh; N. indica and N. kuhlii (Haque et al. 2019a; Hoq et al. 2011). In this present study, a total of 649 specimens were examined, and five sampled for genetic analysis. Morphological differences were observed, including the dorsal coloration and tail banding. Several specimens were most consistent with N. caeruleopunctata, but have been preliminarily identified as N. cf. caeruleopunctata (Figure 5) due to possible genetic differences in the Bay of Bengal specimens. It is likely that previous records of N. kuhlii represent this species, with N. kuhlii now considered to occur only from the Solomon Islands, and adjacent island groups (Last et al. 2016a). All genetically sampled specimens were labelled as Neotrygon Bay of Bengal variants., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 218, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Haque, A. B., Das, S. A. & Biswas, A. R. (2019 a) DNA analysis of elasmobranch products originating from Bangladesh reveals unregulated elasmobranch fishery and trade on species of global conservation concern. PloS one, 14 (9), e 0222273. https: // doi. org / 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0222273","Hoq, M. E., Haroon, A. Y. & Hussain, M. G. (2011) Shark fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: Status and potentialities. Support to Sustainable Management of the BOBLME Project, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, 76 pp.","Last, P., Naylor, G., Seret, B., White, W., de Carvalho, M. & Stehmann, M. (2016 a) Rays of the World. CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, ix + 790 pp."]}

Genus Telatrygon Three specimens of a sharp-snouted stingray were preliminarily identified as Telatrygon crozieri,based on morphology. Samples were not obtained for genetic analysis and so further work is needed to confirm the identification and to distinguish T. crozieri from the recently described T. biasa recorded from Indonesia (Last et al. 2016d)., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 221, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Last, P. R., White, W. T. & Naylor, G. (2016 d) Three new stingrays (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) from the Indo-West Pacific. Zootaxa, 4147 (4), 377 - 402. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4147.4.2"]}

Family Mobulidae Two species of Mobula have previously been recorded from Bangladesh; Mobula mobular and M. kuhlii ( Hoq et al. 2011; Roy et al. 2014a ). In this study, M. birostris, M. tarapacana, M. eregoodoo and M. thurstoni (Figure 13) were recorded following examination of 97 mobulid specimens. Genetic analysis confirmed species identification for M. tarapacana, M. kuhlii and M. mobular, and the presence of either M. alfredi or M. birostris, but the NADH2 sequences alone cannot distinguish between these two species due to overlapping sequence polymorphism (G. Naylor, unpubl. data). This study confirms the presence of at least six mobulid species in Bangladesh; M. alfredi or M. birostris, M. eregoodoo, M. kuhlii, M. mobular, M. tarapacana and M. thurstoni where M. thurstoni has been reported for the first time with possible presence of M. alfredi., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 223, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Hoq, M. E., Haroon, A. Y. & Hussain, M. G. (2011) Shark fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: Status and potentialities. Support to Sustainable Management of the BOBLME Project, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, 76 pp.","Roy, B. J., Alam, M. F., Rhaman, M. G., Singha, N. K. & Akhtar, A. (2014 a) Landing trends, species composition and percentage composition of Sharks and Rays in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, 14, 070403 - 079999."]}

Family Triakidae Three houndshark species have been previously recorded from Bangladesh, i.e. Mustelus manazo, M. mosis and Iago garricki (Hoq et al. 2011; Habib et al. 2020).A total of 31 specimens of a second species of the Iago omanensis complex (which includes the poorly defined I. mangalorensis, if considered valid (Sen et al. 2020; Weigmann 2016; Maduna & Bester-van der Merwe 2017)) were recorded in this study. There is a possibility the recorded Iago sp. could be a new species to science as two separate species (Iago sp. A and Iago sp. B) have been theorised to be present in the Indian waters (Bineesh et al. 2017). This species is tentatively identified as Iago cf. omanensis (Figure 18) pending further taxonomic investigation. It brings the total number of triakid species in Bangladesh to four, with the taxonomy of the Mustelus species in this region being investigated by one of the authors (WW)., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 226, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Hoq, M. E., Haroon, A. Y. & Hussain, M. G. (2011) Shark fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: Status and potentialities. Support to Sustainable Management of the BOBLME Project, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, 76 pp.","Habib, K. A., Neogi, A. K., Nahar, N., Oh, J., Lee, Y. H. & Kim, C. G. (2020) An overview of fishes of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh and their present conservation status. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 12 (1), 15154 - 15172. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 4893.12.1.15154 - 15172","Sen, S., Dash, G., Valappil, A. K., Kizhakudan, S. J. & Chakraborty, R. (2020) Occurrences of Intersexual Hound Sharks, Iago cf. omanensis (Triakidae: Carcharhiniformes) from North-western Bay of Bengal. Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences, 36, 525 - 534. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 41208 - 020 - 00220 - 0","Weigmann, S. (2016) Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity. Journal of Fish Biology, 88 (3), 837 - 1037. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jfb. 12874","Maduna, S. N. & Bester-van der Merwe, A. E. (2017) Molecular research on the systematically challenging smoothhound shark genus Mustelus: a synthesis of the past 30 years. African Journal of Marine Science, 39 (4), 373 - 387. https: // doi. org / 10.2989 / 1814232 X. 2017.1394365","Bineesh, K. K., Gopalakrishnan, A., Akhilesh, K. V., Sajeela, K. A., Abdussamad, E. M., Pillai, N. G. K., Basheer, V. S., Jena, J. K. & Ward, R. D. (2017) DNA barcoding reveals species composition of sharks and rays in the Indian commercial fishery. Mitochondrial Dna Part A, 28 (4), 458 - 472. https: // doi. org / 10.3109 / 19401736.2015.1137900"]}

Genus Pastinachus The current study confirmed two Pastinachus ater (Figure 7) specimens in Bangladesh and 18 specimens of Pastinachus solocirostris (Figure 8). It is assumed that, P. ater has been previously reported from Bangladesh as P. sephen (Roy et al. 2015), though a recent taxonomic study found that P. sephen is only found in the Western Indian Ocean (Red Sea to Pakistan) (Last & Manjaji-Matsumoto 2010). However, four specimens were morphologically very close to P. sephen and referred to as P. cf. sephen (Figure 9) needing further taxonomic work. We also recorded two specimens of a third species of Pastinachus, which are morphologically consistent with P. gracilicaudus. Further taxonomic examination is required, however, as differences were found between the NADH2 sequences of the Bangladesh as compared to Borneo specimens. This species is tentatively referred to as Pastinachus cf. gracilicaudus (Figure 10)., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 219, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Roy, B. J., Singha, N. K., Rhaman, M. G. & Ali, A. H. M. H. (2015) Status and recorded of sharks and rays in the Bay of Bengal of Bangladesh Region. Brazilian Journal of Biological Sciences, 2 (4), 343 - 367.","Last, P. R. & Manjaji-Matsumoto, B. M. (2010) Description of a new stingray, Pastinachus gracilicaudus sp. nov. (Elasmobranchii: Myliobatiformes), based on material from the Indo - Malay Archipelago. In: Last, P. R., White, W. T. & Pogonoski, J. J. (Eds.), Descriptions of New Sharks and Rays from Borneo. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Paper 032. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, pp. 115 - 127."]}

Family Rhinobatidae Rhinobatos ranongensis (Figure 15), which was recently described from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea (Last et al. 2019), was recorded from> 300 specimens from a single site. With the record of this Rhinobatos species, a total of at least eight species of Rhinopristiformes, including giant guitarfish (Glaucostegidae), guitarfish (Rhinobatidae) and wedgefish (Rhinidae), have been confirmed in the territorial waters of Bangladesh (Haque in review). Although not a new record, one specimen from one site and one genetic sample collected from the processed meat of an unknown species was confirmed to be Rhinobatos lionotus representing the first verified report from Bangladesh., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 225, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Last, P. R., Seret, B. & Naylor, G. J. (2019) Description of Rhinobatos ranongensis sp. nov. (Rhinopristiformes: Rhinobatidae) from the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal with a review of its northern Indian Ocean congeners. Zootaxa, 4576 (2), 257 - 287. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4576.2.3"]}

Genus Urogymnus Urogymnus granulatus (Figure 11) was reported for the first time from Bangladesh, based on three specimens from one study site. NADH2 sequence analysis from one of the three specimens supported this identification. This confirms that four species of Urogymnus occur in Bangladeshi waters; U. asperrimus, U. granulatus (likely previously misidentified as U. Africana) ( Hoq et al. 2011; Roy et al. 2015), U. lobistoma and U. polylepis, especially around mangrove areas in the southwestern region. Urogymnus polylepis (Figure 12) has been recorded in news articles but has not yet been added to checklists. Hence, while this is not considered a new record for Bangladesh, it is the first verified record from 52 specimens., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 223, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Hoq, M. E., Haroon, A. Y. & Hussain, M. G. (2011) Shark fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: Status and potentialities. Support to Sustainable Management of the BOBLME Project, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, 76 pp.","Roy, B. J., Singha, N. K., Rhaman, M. G. & Ali, A. H. M. H. (2015) Status and recorded of sharks and rays in the Bay of Bengal of Bangladesh Region. Brazilian Journal of Biological Sciences, 2 (4), 343 - 367."]}

Genus Brevitrygon Two species within the genus Brevitrygon (B. walga and B. imbricata) have previously been reported in Bangladesh (Hoq et al. 2011). This study confirmed an additional eight specimens morphologically consistent with Brevitrygon heterura (Figure 2)., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 217, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Hoq, M. E., Haroon, A. Y. & Hussain, M. G. (2011) Shark fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: Status and potentialities. Support to Sustainable Management of the BOBLME Project, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, 76 pp."]}

Genus Maculabatis The new genus Maculabatis, as well as several new species, was recently assigned to a group of morphologically similar stingray species (Last et al. 2016c; Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last 2016). The recently described Maculabatis bineeshi was recorded in Bangladesh for the first time in this study (Figure 3), with a total of 21 specimens recorded, both morphologically (Manjaji-Matsumoto & Last 2016) and genetically. M. arabica (Figure 4) was genetically identified from one specimen and morphologically identified from another 18 specimens. In addition, seven specimens that were morphologically most consistent with M. macrura were examined. M. macrura has only recently been established as a valid species, and is morphologically very similar to M. gerrardi (Last et al. 2016a), with distinguishing characteristics poorly understood. Further genetic studies are therefore recommended to assign these specimens to the correct species., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 217, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Last, P. R., Bogorodsky, S. V. & Alpermann, T. J. (2016 c) Maculabatis ambigua sp. nov., a new whipray (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) from the Western Indian Ocean. Zootaxa, 4154 (1), 66 - 78. http: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4154.1.4","Manjaji-Matsumoto, B. M. & Last, P. R. (2016) Two new whiprays, Maculabatis arabica sp. nov. and M. bineeshi sp. nov. (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae), from the northern Indian Ocean. Zootaxa, 4144 (3), 335 - 353. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4144.3.3","Last, P., Naylor, G., Seret, B., White, W., de Carvalho, M. & Stehmann, M. (2016 a) Rays of the World. CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, ix + 790 pp."]}

Genus Pateobatis A total of 21 specimens were identified as Pateobatis jenkinsii (Figure 6), based on morphology and genetic analysis. As Ahmed (2020) included this species in a checklist (as Himantura jenkinsii), it is not considered a new record for Bangladesh, but it represents the first verified record., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 219, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Ahmed, M. S., Datta, S., Saha, T. & Hossain, Z. (2020) Molecular characterization of marine and coastal fishes of Bangladesh through DNA barcodes. Authorea. [published online] https: // doi. org / 10.22541 / au. 159188549.94742267"]}

Family Hemiscylliidae Bamboo sharks are poorly studied in the Bangladesh region, though a total of five species have been recorded; Chiloscyllium burmensis, C. griseum, C. indicum and C. punctatum (Hoq et al. 2011; Haque et al. 2019a) and most recently C. hasseltii (Datta et al. 2020). In this study, a total of 129 specimens of Chiloscyllium hasseltii (Figure 16) were morphologically identified. Eleven specimens that appeared morphologically consistent with Chiloscyllium arabicum (Figure 17) were also recorded, but in the absence of genetic data this warrants further investigation., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on page 226, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Hoq, M. E., Haroon, A. Y. & Hussain, M. G. (2011) Shark fisheries in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: Status and potentialities. Support to Sustainable Management of the BOBLME Project, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, 76 pp.","Haque, A. B., Das, S. A. & Biswas, A. R. (2019 a) DNA analysis of elasmobranch products originating from Bangladesh reveals unregulated elasmobranch fishery and trade on species of global conservation concern. PloS one, 14 (9), e 0222273. https: // doi. org / 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0222273","Datta, S. K., Saha, T., Sanzida, N. J., Ahmed, S., Akhand, M. A. A. & Ahmed, M. S. (2020) New Distributional Record of Hasselt's Bamboo Shark Chiloscyllium hasseltii (Orectolobiformes: Hemiscylliidae) from Bangladesh Waters. Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences, 36 (2), 291 - 295. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 41208 - 020 - 00237 - 5"]}

Family Carcharhinidae Species from the family Carcharhinidae are the most commonly landed shark in Bangladesh, with Scoliodon laticaudus the most frequently caught. Smaller carcharhinids tend to be piled together, and are difficult to sample individually. The presence of Loxodon macrorhinus was confirmed, warranting further investigation, including specimen collection and genetic analysis. Most of the reported species in this study inhabit depths between 40-100 m, while a few species are known to occur at depths over 100 m (e.g. Mobula spp., Iago cf. omanensis). Many of the species, particularly the stingrays (Dasyatidae) mostly occur in coastal and inner shelf waters (mostly et al. 2016a). Almost all shallow water coastal and marine areas are exploited by artisanal fishing. The lack of deep-water species is expected as artisanal fishing is limited to waters shallower than 200 m. Future sampling of the catch from mid and deep-water industrial vessels may result in further new records for the country. Of the possible new records, one species, Maculabatis arabica, is designated as Critically Endangered, four as Endangered (Mobula thurstoni, Urogymnus polylepis, Maculabatis macrura and Pastinachus solocirostris) and three as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Table 1), though many have not yet been evaluated. One species (M. thurstoni) is listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). Bangladesh protects 29 species of elasmobranchs under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012. Recently, Bangladesh has responded to global concern for elasmobranch populations, by planning the amendment of this Act for better protection of the most threatened species (J. Kabir, Director, Sheikh Kamal Wildlife Centre, Bangladesh Forest Department, pers. comm. 28 Feb, 2020). Moreover, developing non-detrimental findings (NDFs) (Rose 2014) is also a top priority for the country in 2020. However, such initiatives need to be underpinned by solid scientific understanding, such as provided in this study, as a lack of accurate taxonomic and species-specific information impedes conservation efforts. In the absence of a regional identification guide and reliable species checklist, field-level research work is impeded. The current study and our ongoing work (Haque et al. in review) will lead to such a guide in the future, contributing to better taxonomic resolution for several species., Published as part of Haque, Alifa Bintha, White, William T., Cavanagh, Rachel D., Biswas, Aparna Riti & Hossain, Nazia, 2021, New records of elasmobranchs in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh: further taxonomic research is essential, pp. 211-230 in Zootaxa 5027 (2) on pages 227-228, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5027.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5448230, {"references":["Last, P., Naylor, G., Seret, B., White, W., de Carvalho, M. & Stehmann, M. (2016 a) Rays of the World. CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, ix + 790 pp.","Rose, M. (2014) Non-detriment Findings in CITES (NDFs). Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, 1 (2), 1 - 98."]}

This is an annual publication from the Directorate General of Health Services reporting various healthcare statistics and service performances in Bangladesh.

In this research we observed the effects of basil on stress modulation and immune response in vertebrates in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro study was done on mice spleen cell cultured with Holy basil and Thai basil to observe their proliferation stimulation to spleen cells and spleen T cell. The study was done in presence and absence of Concanavalin A (Con A)- a mitogen known as a T cell proliferation stimulator. A single cell suspension of mice spleen cells was incubated with four different dilutions of Holy and Thai basil (1:1, 1:5, 1:25, and 1:125). No significant differences have been found between control groups (cells without factor) and treatments suggesting the basils did not show any stimulation to spleen cell or spleen T cell proliferation. The in vivo study was conducted with tilapia reared in aquaponics system to observe the stress modulating property of Holy basil. The physiological and immunological responses and growth performances of stressed and basil fed tilapia have been observed. There were four groups of fish- Control (unstressed) fish fed with commercial feed, Stressed fish fed with commercial feed, Control (unstressed) fish fed with basil-supplemented commercial feed, and Stressed fish fed with basil-supplemented commercial feed. The experiment was six weeks long. The parameters which have been recorded were- serum cortisol, packed cell volume, plasma protein, hepatosomatic index, spleen-somatic index, lysozyme activity, macrophage phagocytic capacity, length, weight, and condition factor. The results did not suggest any effects of basil on stress response. But the harmful effect of stress on fish growth and immune response was evident, as the stress groups showed significantly lower length, weight and condition factor. The aquaponics system used in this study was also investigated for its production of the crops. Total fish production after eight weeks of placing the fingerlings in the aquaponics system were as follows- Control group: 6.00 g/L, Stressed group: 3.98 g/L. It suggests that stress can result in far less profit in aquaponics production. Total plant production after 5 months is 6,521.10 g/sq. m (leaf with stem of marketable size) for Holy basil and 7219.73 g/sq. m for Thai Basil. This result suggests that basils are a viable crop in aquaponics and Thai basil would be more productive as the plant crop than Holy basil when grown on aquaponics.

Mutational status of 40 parents of beta-thalassemia patients recruited for initial evaluation of HRM study. (DOCX 11 kb)