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¹ GC Women University, Department of Zoology, Faisalabad. 38040, Pakistan
² University of Agriculture, Department of Zoology, Fisheries and Wildlife, Faisalabad DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v15_4_11 Viewed : 6310 - Downloaded : 5314 A wide variety of chemicals especially metals contaminate the aquatic ecosystem and stimulate a variety of toxicity mechanisms, such as oxidative damage to proteins, DNA and lipids. Very limited efforts have been made to investigate the genotoxic effects of metals in fish. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine copper induced genotoxic damage in peripheral blood erythrocytes of 150-day old four freshwater fish species viz. Labeo rohita, Cirrhina mrigala, Catla catla and Ctenopharyngodon idella by using micronucleus test. For this purpose, 96-hr LC50 and lethal concentration of copper for all the four fish species were determined. Each fish species was exposed to four different sub-lethal concentrations (17, 25, 33, 50% of 96-hr LC50) of copper, separately, for a period of 30 days. Results showed exposure concentration dependent increases in the frequencies of micronuclei and other nuclear abnormalities. Findings of the experiment also confirmed that the micronucleus test acts as a useful tool in determining the potential genotoxicity of metals in erythrocytes of various fish species. Among four fish species, Cirrhina mrigala showed significantly higher frequency of micronuclei with the mean value of 16.98±11.70%, followed by that of Ctenopharyngodon idella, Catla catla and Labeo rohita. However, frequency of other nuclear abnormalities followed the order: Labeo rohita > Cirrhina mrigala > Ctenopharyngodon idella > Catla catla. Keywords : Acute toxicity, Metals, Major Carps, Frequency of Micronuclei and other nuclear abnormalities, Sub-Lethal Concentration