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Genus Rusa, belonging to the deer family Cervidae is native to the Indo-Malaya Archipelago (IMA). However, detailed information on the Rusa genus in the IMA is limited. This review provides comprehensive information on the Rusa genus in the IMA including, threats and conservation efforts. There are four species of deer in Rusa genus, which is Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), Javan deer (Rusa timorensis), Visayan spotted deer (Rusa alfredi) and Philippine deer (Rusa marianna). Despite their wide distribution in the South Asian and Southeast Asian regions, they are under serious threats. Some conservation efforts that are being done to protect and conserve them among others are; 1) facilities protection, 2) habitat enrichment programme, 3) Ex-situ conservation, 4) legislations, and 5) captive breeding. Conservation through genetics is also an important step in conserving these species. Recommendations for conservation of the genus are also discussed; 1. maintenance of ecosystem. 2. more effective monitoring system on the existing protected area. 3. ex-situ conservation, and 4. habitat monitoring.

This study utilized genetic and morphometric approaches to assess the molecular and morphometric differentiation among commercially important species of mud crab. Molecular investigations were derived from 542 bp mitochondrial DNA COI on 249 individuals within genus Scylla from nine states in Malaysia represents four marine regions; South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Straits of Singapore and Straits of Malacca. Four specimens were obtained from Indonesia to give a robust analysis in this study. For species delimitation, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) method on a web interface was employed. Analysis on phylogenetics was implemented utilizing Neighbour joining (NJ) and Maximum Parsimony (MP) methods. The inter- and intraspecies genetic distances (Ds) was computed using Kimura 2-parameter distance and executed in MEGA version 5.05. All samples were genetically and morphologically identified and clustered into four distinct species. Among the species, S. olivacea was the most abundant (n = 111), on the other hand the occurrence of S. paramamosain in Malaysia was very low (n = 29). No single individual of S. serrata from Malaysia was recorded in this study. Both genetic distance and phylogenetic approaches exhibited a correlative monophyletic association among all specimens analysed. This present study is crucial as it reports the reassessment of all species within genus Scylla in Malaysia, eventually could be employed as a reference source for subsequent research mainly on mariculture and other conservation efforts for the species. Keywords: Scyla spp., Mud crab, Morphological identification, Molecular identification, COI

High-throughput sequencing technologies have expanded gene-based to genome-wide research in aquaculture species. Several techniques adopting the Second Generation Sequencing (SGS), Third Generation Sequencing (TGS) platforms and/or hybrid genome assemblies have been widely employed in various aquaculture research areas including general breeding program, disease and health management, sex determination and reproduction biology, environmental stress response, nutrigenomics, morphological appearance, and meat quality/texture. Notably, the application of these novel sequencing technologies has generated Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and novel genes associated with commercially important production traits, which are useful for essential processes in selective breeding programs such as population genomics evaluation, Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) and Genomic Selection (GS). These genomic approaches are also used as genetic traceability tools for seafood fraud assessment and tracking of farm escapees for wild stock conservation. Genomic data generated by these platforms could aid in establishing proper breeding strategies for more profitable and sustainable aquaculture.

The tropical freshwater bighead catfish Clarias macrocephalus is widely distributed in Southeast Asia and is economically important in both the aquaculture and fisheries industries. In the current study, eight polymorphic microsatellite markers were employed to evaluate the genetic variation of 15 C. macrocephalus populations from Peninsular Malaysia, and the Mekong Delta populations of Cambodia and Vietnam. Overall, the number of alleles in C. macrocephalus populations ranged from 1 to 25 alleles. In general, genetic diversity was higher in the mainland populations (Cambodia, HE = 0.761 to 0.813 and Vietnam, HE = 0.759 to 0.789 with mean number of alleles of 10.13–13.88) compared to Peninsular Malaysia (HE = 0.519 to 0.699 with mean number of alleles of 4.5–10.75). High linkage disequilibrium and deviation from HWE suggest inbreeding in most Peninsular Malaysia populations which was also reflected by significant FIS values (0.217 to 0.410, p

This study evaluated the effect of duration of feeding with selected prebiotics (β-glucan, GOS, MOS) and probiotics ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Lactobacillus acidophilus ) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, the expression of immune regulatory genes and the capacity of Channa striata fingerlings to retain the benefits derived after the intake of these supplements with time. Fish on the supplemented diets resulted in better growth performance, nutrient digestibility and the expression of immune regulatory genes significantly (P L. acidophilus supplement. The growth trends were lower in all prebiotics compared to fish on the probiotics supplemented diets. The results obtained from the present study showed that supplementation with L. acidophilus is best for growth and the expression of immune regulatory genes of C. striata fingerlings regardless of feeding duration unlike the prebiotic treatments whose early differences became insignificant by the time feeding was extended to 16 weeks.

Abundance and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates as well as physico-chemical parameters were investigated in five rivers of the Juru River Basin in northern Peninsula Malaysia: Ceruk Tok Kun River (CTKR), Pasir River (PR), Permatang Rawa River (PRR), Kilang Ubi River (KUR), and Juru River (JR). The physico-chemical parameters and calculated water quality index (WQI) were significantly different among the investigated rivers (ANOVA, P

The influence of physical and chemical parameters on the abundance and diversity of chironomids was studied in six rivers with moderate to highly polluted water in the Juru River Basin. The rivers: Ceruk Tok Kun (CTKR) as reference site, and polluted rivers of Pasir (PR), Juru (JR), Permatang Rawa (PRR), Ara (AR) and Kilang Ubi (KUR) were sampled over a period of five months (November 2007-March 2008). Nine chirnomid species: Chironimus kiiensis, C. javanus, Polypedilum trigonus, Microchironomus sp., Dicrotendipes sp., Tanytarsus formosanus, Clinotanypus sp., Tanypus punctipennis and Fittkauimyia sp. were identified. Assessment of their relationships with several environmental parameters was performed using the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Tanytarsus formosanus was the most dominant in the relatively clean CTKR and moderately polluted JR with mean densities of 19.66 and 25.32 m(-2), respectively while C. kiiensis was abundant in more polluted rivers. Tanytarsus formosanus, Dicrotendipes sp. and Microchironomus sp. were grouped under moderate to high water temperature, total organic matter (TOM), total suspended solids (TSS), velocity, pH, phosphates and sulphates. However, Tanypus punctipennis, Fittkauimyia sp., and Clinotanypus sp. were associated with high contents of river sediment such as TOM, Zn and Mn and water ammonium-N and nitrate-N and they were associated with higher dissolved oxygen (DO) content in the water. Chironomus kiiensis, C. javanus and P. trigonus showed positive relationships with TOM, ammonium-N and nitrate-N as well as trace metals of Zn, Cu and Mn. These three species could be considered as tolerant species since they have the ability to survive in extreme environmental conditions with low DO and high concentrations of pollutants. Based on the water parameter scores in all rivers, the highest diversity of chironomid larvae was reported in CTKR. With higher concentrations of organic and/or inorganic pollutants as reported in PPR, KUR and AR, the chironomid larval diversity decreased, and the abundance of tolerant species, mainly Chironomus spp., increased.