To check mosquito breeding, Gambusia fish to be released in 868 village ponds of Ludhiana district
Manav Mander
Ludhiana, July 14
To check the breeding of mosquitoes in villages, the Health Department is all prepared to release Gambusia fish in 868 village ponds of the district. As villages remain elusive of fogging, Gambusia fish serves as the best option to check mosquito menace in villages.
It was in 2016 that the department started rearing Gambusia to check the spread of mosquitoes and hence, diseases such as malaria and dengue. There is a fish pond at the Civil Surgeon’s office where fish is reared and it breeds throughout the year after maturity.
“Gambusia is considered as an effective tool for controlling growth of mosquitoes as it feeds on mosquitoe larvae. It keeps growing and multiplying and feeds even on microscopic organisms,” shares Dr Meera Ansal, Dean of the College of Fisheries at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).
The fish measures anything between 1.25”and 2” and is capable of consuming larvae nearly 40 times to its weight. Besides, the mouth of the fish is comparatively upward than the normal fish, which gives it an upper hand in eating the larvae, which floats on the surface of stagnant water bodies, she said.
District epidemiologist Sheetal Narang said the cost of introducing larvivorous fish was relatively lower than that of chemical control and was, hence, the preferred method. The Health Department gets it free of cost from the government but otherwise it generally costs around Rs 15-20 per fish. A single fully-grown fish eats about 100 to 300 mosquito larvae per day.
“The fish is hatched in the pond at the Civil Surgeon’s office and then sent to ponds in villages. It is transported through small tubs and buckets and handed over to the block-level Community Health Centre (CHC). Staff of the CHC then release nearly 15-20 fish in one pond. The fish keeps on multiplying and grow in number throughout the year,” Dr Narang said.
About gambusia
Gambusia affinis has been in use in India since 1928. It is an exotic species and has been distributed throughout the warmer and some temperate parts of the world. Gambusia fish feeds on mosquito larvae and is considered as an effective measure to control growth of mosquitoes. It eats about 100 to 300 mosquito larvae per day.
