Adesanya Oluwatosin Emmanuel¹ , Idowu Adekunle Adedoyin¹ , Adekola Mukaila B.² , Towolawi  Adeleke Taofik³ , Odukoya Abimbola Erastus⁴

1 Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
2 Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
3 Department of Environmental Health Science, Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria
4 Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 3   
Received: 18 Mar., 2026    Accepted: 16 May, 2026    Published: 25 May, 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The health of fish largely depends on the quality of their blood, which is relevant in indicating the state of the fish’s health. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of sub-acute exposure to Senna occidentalis ethanol leaf extract on the haematological parameters and behavioural responses of Clarias gariepinus juveniles. The study was carried out at the Fish Hatchery Complex, FUNAAB. One hundred and eight (108) juveniles of Clarias gariepinus with an initial average body weight of 16 ± 2 grams and length of 8.5 ± 0.5 cm were used. The leaves of Senna occidentalis were obtained at Old Bola Ahmed Tinubu Road, off Iju Road, Ifako-Ijaiye LGA, Lagos State. The experiment had four treatments and three replicates, each with 9 fish per treatment tank. During the 23-day subacute toxicity test, C. gariepinus exposed to graded doses of Senna occidentalis were closely observed for behavioural responses. Haematological parameters such as Red Blood Cell, White Blood Cell, Packed Cell Volume, Haemoglobin, and White Blood Cell Differential Counts were also carried out. Analysis of variance was used to assess the data. The results showed that the values of Mean Corpuscular Volume (115.15-112.33 fL), Hemoglobin (12.31-9.50 g/dL), Red Blood Cell (3.30-2.13 x 10^12/L), White Blood Cell (15.82-10.90 x 10^9/L), Packed Cell Volume (38.31%-28.11%), and Mean Cell Hemoglobin concentration (34.71-32.27 g/dL) decreased as Senna occidentalis concentrations increased in relation to the control treatment. These findings provide a baseline that what is natural may not be automatically safe, as the results of this research showed poor growth and fish deaths. These findings indicate that Senna occidentalis ethanol leaf extract may pose sub-acute toxic effects to Clarias gariepinus, and the results may provide useful baseline information for fish health assessment and the safe use of medicinal plant extracts in aquaculture environments.

Clarias gariepinus; Senna occidentalis; Haematology; Behavioural response; subacute toxicity; Plant extract