University Grants Commission

Minor Research Project

  1. Name of the principal investigator:   Rajendra Sadashiv More.
  2. Department: Department of Zoology
  3. Name and address of the institution: Dapoli Education Society’s, Dapoli Urban Bank Senior Science College, Dapoli, Dist.  Ratnagiri(MS).
  1. UGC Approval No. and Date:          File no. 47-971/14 (General/55/WRO) XII plan dated 28/07/2017.
  2. Date of implementation:  October, 2017.
  3. Tenure of the project:  Two years
  4. Total Grant Allocated: 3,50,000/-
  5. Total grant received:  2,60,000/-
  6. Title of the project:  Diversity and Nutritional Analysis of Mangrove Clam Geloina Proxima (Prime,1864) of Dapoli Coast, Dist- Ratnagiri Dist. Maharashtra (India)

Executive summary of the project

The animal is of great interest due to its availability and secondly it forms a daily food for fisherman community. Before investigating desired objectives, it was necessary to authenticate systematic position of the animal, hence, authentication and verification of the systematic position was carried out from Zoological survey of India, Western regional centre. The animal is available throughout the year all along the coast of Ratnagiri however, it was found that the population density was more in some specific regions where there is a unique ecological habitat of mangroves. On this basis 12 sites were selected for the collection of the animals. While studying literature survey it was observed that very little information is available about the animal, particularly about the reproductive organs and reproduction activity.

An attempt was made for the first time, to find out the number and structure of the chromosomes of the animal. Chromosomes are armed with centromere at the centre, the size is also comparatively small. It is interesting to report that the chromosomal number in the animal is N=19 (2N=38).

Proximate composition studies were carried out in different tissues of the animal.

An attempt has been made to find out moisture, protein content, ash and calcium and phosphorus contents in gills, foot muscles and hepatopancreas during various seasons. It is interesting to note that all the components were little more in female than male. Moisture content was more during breeding season than non-breeding season. As far as ash content and content of calcium and phosphorus is concerned there was no much of difference during breeding and non-breeding season.

There is a sexual dimorphism in the animal, i. e. sexes are separate. Oogenesis is gradual and probably mature ova are released twice a year. Ovum cells are larger in size and are bounded in an envelope. Spermatogenesis is not gradual, the number and structure of primary and secondary spermatogonial cells is not distinct. However, the production of sperms has been found to be very high, for reason unknown. Various histochemical tests were implemented to study the activity of enzymes like acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase, P.A.S. method was implemented to study glycogen activity in ovary and testis during breeding and non-breeding season. It was found that glycogen activity is more in the outer germinal layer during non-breeding season and as development progresses the activity also moves towards the centre. Cytoplasm shows distinct granular staining. Mucus secretion was observed more in testis during breeding season. Haematoxylin / Eosin staining technique was implemented to reveal the general structures of the cells.

As it was observed that histochemical results are promising, we have made an attempt to study protein activity, both qualitatively (by implementing SDS-PAGE) and quantitatively by popular method of Lowry et.al. Results shows foot and gills have more proteins, Gonads also show good results, however, there are very poor results in heapatopancras.

An attempt has been made to verify the potentials of various tissues for antimicrobial activity. It is interesting to note that the animal has potential bioequivalent activity, hence, it will be interesting to continue further studies in this line.

 

Report by,

Dr. Rajendra Sadashiv More,

Principal Investigator,

Head, Department of Zoology.