INTRODUCTION

Environmental factors are suggested to be the main source making noise to the recruitment
data for several fish species. Often the studied abiotic factors have been climatological, such
as air temperature, winds or precipitation. The most significant of these is undoubtedly
temperature. This is due to two obvious links. First of all, a strong coupling in temperatures
between atmosphere and shallow water basin like the Baltic Sea exists, and secondly, because
fish are poikilothermal animals their body temperature follows closely that of water.

According to Shepherd et al. (1984) three potential causes for variations in recruitment of fish
stocks are generally involved. These are:

1) Environmental factors (climate, tidal conditions etc),

2) The abundance of the parent stock as a whole (the stock-recruitment effect), and
3) The abundance of predators on, or competitors, of the pre-recruit stages (ecological
interactions).

Further Shepherd et al. (1984) suggested that the environmental factors are likely to affect
fish stocks via four principal processes, which are:

1) Direct physiological effects,

2) Disease,
3) Feeding, and
4) Predation.

Any of these may result in either direct mortality or sub-lethal reduction in performance.
Environmental factors co-vary over large areas. So if the fish stocks are affected by these
environmental factors, the stocks should also fluctuate similarly over different areas. Recent
analysis of long-term data has shown this for many species among several populations.

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ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT AFFECTS THE BIOLOGY OF FISHES

Generally, mortality is at its highest at the early life stages. At the same time the susceptibility
to changes in environmental factors is at its lowest. Therefore an episodic change in an
essential environmental factor can cause high mortality among larval and juvenile fish. This
is due to better mobility of larger juveniles, opportunities to find food and to escape from
predators. There are mainly three kinds of environmental factors. These are:

1) Physical factor s
· Temperature
· Salinity
· Turbidity
· Water colour etc.

2) Chemical factor s
· PH
· Dissolve O2
· Alkalinity
· Hardness etc.

3) Biological factor s
· Predation
· Competition
· Parasitism
· Disease etc.

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 Figur e 1: Envir onmental factor s that affects the biology of fishes

1) PHYSICAL FACTORS
· Temper atur e:
Temperature is defined as the degree of hotness or coldness in the body of a living organism
either in water or on land. As fish is a cold blooded animal, its body temperature changes
according to that of environment affecting its metabolism and physiology and ultimately
affecting the production. Higher temperature increases the rate of bio-chemical activity of the
micro biota, plant respiratory rate, and so increase in oxygen demand.
Remedies
By water exchange, planting shady trees or making artificial shades during summer’
s thermal
stratification can be prevented. Mechanical aeration can prevent formation of ice build-up in
large areas of the pond.

· Salinity:
Salinity is defined as the total concentration of electrically charged ions (cations –Ca++,
Mg++, K+, Na+ ; anions –CO3-, HCO3-, SO4-, Cl- and other components such as NO3-,
NH4+ and PO4-). Salinity is a major driving factor that affects the density and growth of
aquatic organism’
s population. According to Meck (1996) fresh and saltwater fish species
generally show poor tolerance to large changes in water salinity.

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Remedies
Salinity is increased or diluted by replenishment of water. Aeration is essential to equalise the
water salinity all over the water column.

· Tur bidity:
Ability of water to transmit the light that restricts light penetration and limit photosynthesis is
termed as turbidity and is the resultant effect of several factors such as suspended clay
particles, dispersion of plankton organisms, particulate organic matters and also the pigments
caused by the decomposition of organic matter.
Remedies
Addition of more water or lime at a rate of 20 mg L-1 and gypsum on the entire pond water at
rate of 200 Kg/ 1000m3 of pond can reduce turbidity.

Fig. 2: Measur ement of tur bidity using Secchi disc.

· Water colour :
The colour of an object is defined by the wavelengths of visible light that the object reflects.
National Agricultural Extension and Research (1996) states pale colour, light greenish or
greenish waters suitable for fish culture and according to Bhatnagar et al. 2004 dark brown
colour is lethal for fish/shrimp culture.
Remedies
Application of organic and inorganic fertilizers in clear water ponds may increase
productivity.

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2) CHEMICAL FACTORS

· pH :
pH is measured mathematically by, the negative logarithm of hydrogen ions concentration.
Fish have an average blood pH of 7.4, a little deviation from this value, generally between 7.0
to 8.5 is more optimum and conducive to fish life. pH between 7 to 8.5 is ideal for biological
productivity , fishes can become stressed in water with a pH ranging from 4.0 to 6.5 and 9.0
to 11.0 and death is almost certain at a pH of less than 4.0 or greater than 11.0.
Remedies
Add gypsum (CaSO4) or organic matter (cowdung, poultry droppings etc.) and initial pre
treatment or curing of a new concrete pond to reduce pH levels. Use of quicklime (CaO) to
rectify low pH of aquatic body.

· Dissolve O2:
Dissolved oxygen affects the growth, survival, distribution, behaviour and physiology of
shrimps and other aquatic organisms. The principal source of oxygen in water is atmospheric
air and photosynthetic planktons. Obtaining sufficient oxygen is a greater problem for aquatic
organisms than terrestrial ones, due to low solubility of oxygen in water. Oxygen depletion in
water leads to poor feeding of fish, starvation, reduced growth and more fish mortality, either
directly or indirectly.
Remedies
Avoid over application of fertilizers and organic manure to manage DO level. Avoid over
stocking of fishes.

· Alkalinity:
Alkalinity is the water ’
s ability to resist changes in pH and is a measure of the total
concentration of bases in pond water. But if the alkalinity is low, it indicates that even a small
amount of acid can cause a large change in our pH. Bhatnagar et al. (2004) suggested that
<20ppm indicates poor status of waterbody.
Remedies
Fertilize the ponds to check nutrient status of pondwater. Alkalinity can be increased by
calcium carbonate, concrete blocks, oyster shells, limestone, or even egg shells depending
upon soil pH and buffering capacity.

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· Har dness:
Hardness is the measure of alkaline earth elements such as calcium and magnesium in an
aquatic body along with other ions such as aluminium, iron, manganese, strontium, zinc, and
hydrogen ions. According to Bhatnagar et al. (2004) hardness values less than 20ppm causes
stress, 75-150 ppm is optimum for fish culture and >300 ppm is lethal to fish life as it
increases pH, resulting in non-availability of nutrients.
Remedies
Add quicklime/alum/both and add zeolite to reduce hardness. During heavy rainfall avoid the
runoff water to bring lot of silt into the fish pond.

3) BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
· Pr edation:
In ecosystem predation is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is
hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their
prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of its prey and
the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption.
· Competition:
Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is
lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food,
water, and territory) used by both can be a factor. Competition among members of the same
species is known as intraspecific competition, while competition between individuals of
different species is known as interspecific competition. According to the competitive
exclusion principle, species less suited to compete for resources should either adapt or die out.
· Par asitsm:
In biology/ecology, par asitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species,
where one species, the par asite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally
parasite (in biological usage) referred primarily to organisms visible to the naked eye, or
macroparasites (such as helminths). Parasite now includes microparasites, which are typically
smaller, such as protozoa, viruses, and bacteria. Examples of parasites include the plants
mistletoe and cuscuta, and animals such as hookworms.

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· Disease:
Like humans and other animals, fish suffer from diseases and parasites. Fish defenses against
disease are specific and non-specific. In recent years, vaccines have become widely used in
aquaculture and ornamental fish, for example vaccines for furunculosis in farmed salmon and
koi herpes virus in koi. Some commercially important fish diseases are VHS, ich and whirling
disease.

THE ACCEPTABLE LIMITS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Table: The acceptable limits of environmental factors are given below-
Par ameter Acceptable r ange
Temperature (0C) 15-35
Turbidity (cm) 30-80
Salinity
Water colour Pale to light green
Dissolved oxygen (mg L-1 ) 3-5
pH 7-9.5
Alkalinity (mg L-1 ) 50-200
Hardness (mg L-1 ) >20
Calcium (mg L-1 ) 4-160
Ammonia (mg L-1 ) 0-0.05
Phosphorus (mg L-1 ) 0.03-2

FISH RESPONSE TO CHANGES IN LIMIT

v Physiological r esponse
At the individual level, direct changes in the environmental factors (such as local
temperatures) will invoke changes in physiological rates. Species can only tolerate a specific
range of environmental conditions that, among other factors, places constraints upon their
range of distribution. Low levels of blood partial oxygen pressure (PO2 ) outside of pejus
temperatures (pejus = getting worse) reflect the reduction in aerobic scope, limiting the
energy available for activity, growth, reproduction, and other vital rates. A review of the
upper and lower lethal temperatures of various marine fish species indicated that thermal
tolerance changed markedly with latitude.

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 v Behaviour al r esponse
Organism-level responses, such as changes in behaviour, can result from changes in key
abiotic factors, such as temperature or O2, but the presence (and/or strength) of the response
will depend on the ability of the animal to detect environmental gradients and navigate
accordingly. In contrast to early feeding larvae of tropical marine fish, which can exhibit
reasonably strong swimming capacity, larvae of most temperate marine fish species have no,
or very limited, swimming ability.

v Population dynamic r esponse

Productivity of fish populations, in terms of biomass, is determined by recruitment, growth,
and mortality. Most commercial species are broadcast spawners producing millions of eggs.
Mortality rates of early life-history stages are very high and variable, generating large
fluctuations in annual recruitment. We expect that climate change will have a major effect on
the distribution and abundance of fish through its influence on recruitment.

v Ecosystem r esponse
Climate change can affect all trophic levels of marine ecosystems, eventually resulting in
changes in the productivity and distribution of fish stocks. On the lower trophic levels,
climate is expected to affect primary and secondary productivity through its effect on
physiological rates of species, the availability of nutrients (upwelling or stratification), and
the advection of water into shelf areas and enclosed basins.

CONCLUSION
Fish is an inexpensive source of protein and an important cash crop in many regions of world.
The optimum fish production is totally dependent on the physical, chemical and biological
qualities of the aquatic environment to most of the extent.The role of various factors like
temperature, transparency, turbidity, water colour, carbon dioxide, pH, alkalinity, hardness,
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, primary productivity, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), plankton
population etc. should be overlooked for maintaining a healthy aquatic environment and for
the production of sufficient fish food organisms in ponds for increasing fish production.
Therefore, there is the need to ensure that, these environmental factors are properly managed
and regulated for good survival and optimum growth of fish.

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