Male Catfish Rita rita has higher Haemoglobin Concentration than Female Fish

Hematological analysis of blood of Rita rita, showed significant differences between total erythrocytes count, hemoglobin concentration and erythrocyte sedimentation rate of the two sexes. Male fish had total erythrocytes 5.05 +/- 0.5 x 10(6) and hemoglobin content 11.5 +/- 1.5 g/in ml compared to 4.04 +/- 0.5 x 10(6) and 7.3 +/- 1.3 g/in ml in the female. The female fish had significantly higher values of ESR in comparison of male. It may be due to different plasma viscosity and specific gravity of the erythrocyte is responsible for different ESR values.