CHARACTERIZATION OF FISH MUCUS AND SEASONAL IMPACT ON THEIR BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITIONRenuka Yadav, Usha Kurrey and Alka Mishra¬Abstract The integumentary layer of fishes is not only the main surface of exchange between them and the external environment, but they also possess other important functions, including the protection of fish from pathogenic attacks. Recently, the integumentary mucus of the fishes has gained importance in the field of biomedical research, because of its ability to tackle infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi, by providing innate immunity to the fishes. It being studied for its potential application in human medicine. It holds valuable antimicrobial bacteria which assist fishes to guard themselves against pathogens in the aquatic ecosystem. In Fish Skin various type of cells present such as mucus cells, club cells and epithelial cells. The fish skin mucus, as an important and effective source of antifungal drugs against several human pathogens and the treatment of their resulting clinical infections. Evolutionary lineage determines the innate immune system of pathogen that are modified through time and environmental factors. In the present study we studied the characteristics of fish mucus in the different ecological zone and also the seasonal impact on their biochemical composition. there are significant differences occurred in concentration of chemical composition of mucus. It was observed that Concentration of protein (982.92μg/ml) and carbohydrate(48.34μg/ml) is high in rainy season while low in summer season. (Protein 91.17μg/ml and carbohydrate16.63 μg/ml). |