Exposure of pacific herring to weathered crude oil: Assessing effects on ova

• Published in: Environmental toxicology and chemistry Vol. 19; no. 6; pp. 1649 - 1659
• Main Authors: Carls, Mark G., Hose, Jo Ellen, Thomas, Robert E., Rice, Stanley D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.06.2000; SETAC
• Subjects: Agnatha. Pisces; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; chrysene; Clupea pallasi; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates; Exxon Valdez oil spill; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gametes; Larvae; Pacific herring; phenanthrene; Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons; INE, USA, Alaska, Alaska Gulf, Prince William Sound; Clupeidae; Hydrocarbon; Toxicity; Exposure; Experimental study; Marine environment; Gamete; Pollutant; Vertebrata; Larva; Crude oil; Pisces; Adult animal; Weathering
• ISSN: 0730-7268; 1552-8618
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.5620190624

In order to determine if exposure to Exxon Valdez oil would adversely affect progeny, reproductively mature Pacific herring were confined in water contaminated with weathered crude oil. Progeny were generally not affected by a 16‐d parental exposure to initial aqueous concentrations of ≤58 μg/L total polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), yielding concentrations of up to 9.7 μg/g in ova. In contrast, previous research indicated that a 16‐d direct exposure of herring eggs to similarly weathered oil was detrimental to developing embryos at total initial PAH concentrations of 9 μg/L. Progeny of exposed fish could have been insulated from toxic effects for two reasons. First, as an apparent result of partitioning and metabolism in parental tissues, lower concentrations and less toxic PAHs were preferentially accumulated by ova (primarily naphthalenes; 84–92%). Second, peak exposure concentrations occurred before cell differentiation. The opposite was true for directly exposed eggs; the more toxic multi‐ring PAHs (e.g., phenanthrenes and chrysenes) and alkyl‐substituted homologues were accumulated, and internal concentrations increased during cell division, differentiation, and organ development. Thus, Pacific herring embryos are more critically sensitive to oil pollution than are gametes.