Chandigarh fisheries dept releases Gambusia fishes to curb mosquito-borne diseases

Tejdeep Singh Saini, Director Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, UT Chandigarh stated that the Gambusia released on Friday are being produced at the fish seed farm at the regulator end of Sukhna Lake functioning under the fisheries department.

The department breeds this fish in March and releases it up till December, as per requirement. Saini added that the fish seed farm in Sukhna lake is the only farm in the entire northern region which breeds the rare fishes and supplies them to several agencies, free of cost.

On the occasion, Dr Kanwarjit Singh, Joint Director of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries apprised that Gambusia has a voracious appetite. An adult fish can eat up to 150 mosquito larvae in an 8-hour period.

Their appetite makes them an excellent biological tool for mosquito control because the fish consume larvae before they even have a chance to develop into adult mosquitoes. He further appealed to the public to approach the farm to collect the fish for releasing in stagnant water points to curb water-borne diseases in the city.