ARCHITECTURAL DISTORTIONS IN THE LIVER, HEART AND GILL TISSUES OF CLARIAS GARIEPINUS AT SUBLETHAL CONCENTRATIONS OF DETERGENT EFFLUENT

The histopatological effects of detergent effluent on the liver, heart and gill tissues in Clarias gariepinus were determined by light microscopy. The fishes were exposed to subletahal concentrations of detergent effluent for a period two weeks (14 days) with a control experimental set up that is free of detergent effluent. The control experiment showed no observable histopathological effects. The tissues examined showed different histopatological alterations ranged from necrosis of tissues, vacuolar degeneration, lesion, congestion, oedema and hepatocytes. All the histopatological observations indicated that exposure to sublethal concentrations of detergent effluent caused destructive effects in the tissues examined and this could result in severe physiological problems, ultimately leading to death of fish