Marsh Bulletin

Shatt Al-Arab River is regarded as one of the most important rivers in Iraq and the main
source of surface water in Basra governorate. Its water is used for various purposes; drinking,
irrigation, fisheries, navigation, and industry. Shatt Al-Arab River forms at Qurna where the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers join together, it’s a conjunction link of freshwater from Iraq into
the Arabian Gulf.
This river has been subjected to increase salt concentration; the principal reason for this is local
and regional factors. The former is due to water pollution. The latter is the low-level discharge
from Tigris and Euphrates. The high salt level in Shatt al-Arab is a threatening environmental
disaster.
In this paper, factors that participate in the present-day state of Shatt Al-Arab to change the
physical properties of its water have been studied by analyzing the effect of natural and
anthropogenic variations of main sources and by analyzing data observation of salt in Shatt AlArab and water discharge in Kassarah Dam, with focusing on the future challenges expected
for Euphrates and Tigris rivers and their effects on Shatt Al-Arab, mostly based on a literature
review of recent foreign publications on the problem.
The results show a significant increase in salinity over time from upstream to downstream of
Shatt Al-Arab, resulting in a decline in quantity and quality of freshwater, and as long as the
sources of Shatt Al-Arab go on water shortage or dry up; water of Shatt Al-Arab will turn into
seawater coming from the Arabian Gulf with the tidal wave.

Contaminated water can cause a spectrum of disease ranging from self-limiting
gastrointestinal disturbances to severe life threatening infections. This study
was conducted about bacteriological assessment of domestic bottled waters
commonly sold in Basrah governorate. Eighty samples of bottled waters were
collected randomly from ten brands. The samples were analyzed about total
bacterial count, total coliform bacteria, faecal coliform bacteria, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, According to standard methods for
examination of water. Results showed that 19(23.75%) of samples contained
total bacterial count above the acceptable standard. Total coliform bacteria were
detected in 11(13.75%) water bottles including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumonia
and Enterobacter sp, while a faecal coliform bacteria were detected in 1(1.25%)
samples were E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected in 2(2.5%)
samples, while none of the bottled water samples were positive for
Staphylococcus aureus.

The geochemical analysis of sediments and both Crassostrea cucullata and Chione californensis
shells and hydrochemical analyses of water are carried out to study the environmental
contamination in the Iraqi coasts - north Arabian Gulf. Samples of sediments, shells and water
are collected during low tide period from March to August 2011, from seven different stations
(Fadakia, Rass Al Bishah, Khor Abdullah, Khor Shytianah , Hacham Island , Khor Al Zubair and
Shatt Al-Basra ).
The sediments textural analyses revealed that Fadakia, Rass Al Bishah, Khor Al Zubair and Shatt
Al-Basra are classified as silty clay sediments while the sediments Khor Abdullah, Khor
Shytianah and Hacham Island are classified as sandy silty clay sediments.
The hydrochemical analysis reflect three zones of water salinity, Fadakia and Shatt Al-Basrah of
Brackish water with TDS range (15148-18130ppm), Rass Al Bishah of Saline water with TDS
range (34123-36521ppm), and the other marine coastal sites of saline water with TDS range
(39215-45220ppm).
X-ray diffractometry of shells of Chione californensis reveals that they have two layers, an inner
layer constitutes of aragonite and outer layer constitutes of calcite, while the shells of
Crassostrea cucullata have only calcite layer. The geochemical analyses of shells revealed
positive correlation between water salinity and chemical constituents. Exception is found for
SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and P2O5 which have negative correlation with water salinity.
The chemical constituents of SiO₂%, Al₂O₃%, MgO %, Fe2O3 %, Co, Zn, Cr, and Pb in the
Chione californensis shells show direct relation with the calcite whereas CaO %, P2O5 %, Na₂O
%, K₂O %, Ba, Sr, Rb, and Sr/Ca ratio show direct relation with the aragonite.
The geochemical analysis and differences in the proportion of the calcium carbonate polymorphs
within the Iraqi coastal line may reflect the range of influence of pollution effluent from the port
of Um Qaser near Hacham Island. Also, It is good to use the mineralogical evidence of
Crassostrea cucullata and Chione californensis shells with their living aqueous habitat to build
an aqueous environment pollution models in the Iraqi Coasts.

A descriptive and comparative osteological study was performed of two sparid species:
Acanthopagrus arabicus Iwatsuki, 2013 and Acanthopagrus bifasciatus (Forsskal,
1775), were collected from Iraqi marine waters, during the period from January to May
2015. Some paired head bones and vertebral column such as; premaxilla, maxilla, lower
jaw; dentary, articular, operculer, preoperculer and vertebral column. The height of
ascending process equally basebone length in A. arabicus, whereas the ascending
process is longer than basebone length in A. bifasciatus. The maxilla of the two fishes
possesses one anterior ascending process support the premaxilla. Dentary have 3-5 rows
of moral-like teeth in A. arabicus and 4-5 rows in A. bifasciatus. Operculum process
was a good fused with operculum bone in A. arabicus, whereas being
prominent and end in operculum spine in A. bifasciatus. The vertebral column
contain 23 vertebrae in A. arabicus, while 24 vertebrae in A. bifasciatus. The study
showed high resemblance and some structural differences between bones of
investigated species belonging to intraspecific variations, and supported to join them in
one genus of the family sparidae.

The activity of growth hormone GH and Thyroid Stimulating hormone
TSH in the serum of cultured and wild common carp Cyprinus carpio
were determined by ELISA technique. Wild common carp were obtained
from Saleh river North Basrah and the cultured carp obtained from two
farms, the first was the earth ponds of Marine Science Center (MSC) and
the second was Seid Kamel (SK) farm in Qarmat Ali. Results showed that
the highest values of GH obtained in fish of SK farm (0.78 ± 0.13) ng/ml
followed by wild fishes (0.37 ± 0.03) ng /ml and in fish of MSC farm
(0.25 ± 0.04) ng/ml. While the TSH showed the highest values in MSC
farm (0.36 ± 0.06) uIU/ml followed by SK farm (0.19 ± 0.03) uIU/ml and
then in the wild fishes (0.06 ± 0.02) uIU/ml. The study showed a clear
effect of culture condition and food type on GH and TSH activities, the
good management and nutrition in SK farm reflect a high activity of GH
which responsible for somatic growth activities, and a medium activity of
TSH which incorporated with physiological adaptations to stress which
came from captive and high density condition. While the poor diet quality
and bad management in MSC farm elevated TSH activity to highest
levels.