Gambusia Fish : Released To Address Mosquito Menace

Gambusia Fish : Released To Address Mosquito Menace

Various government and non-governmental organisations in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab have released Gambusia fish into local water bodies to address a mosquito menace.

• Gambusia fish is known as mosquitofish and, is widely used as a biological agent for controlling mosquito larvae.
• It is native to the waters of the south-eastern United States.
• It has been a part of mosquito-control strategies for over a century in various parts of the world, including India.
• A single full-grown fish eats about 100 to 300 mosquito larvae per day.
• Also, it has been part of various malaria control strategies in India since 1928, including the Urban Malaria Scheme.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declares Gambusia one of the 100 worst invasive alien species in the world.

Malaria:

• It is a disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite.
• The parasite can be spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
• The plasmodium parasite is spread by female Anopheles mosquitoes, which are known as “night-biting” mosquitoes because they most commonly bite between dusk and dawn.