Toxicity Testing of Crude Oil and Related Compounds Using Early Life Stages of the Crimson-Spotted Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia fluviatilis)

• Published in: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 180 - 189
• Main Authors: Pollino, Carmel A., Holdway, Douglas A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.07.2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: acute toxicity; Agnatha. Pisces; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Congenital Abnormalities - etiology; Congenital Abnormalities - veterinary; crude oil; dispersant; early life stages; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates; Embryo, Nonmammalian - drug effects; Embryonic Development; fish; Fishes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Larva - drug effects; Larva - growth & development; Lethal Dose 50; Melanotaenia fluviatilis; Petroleum - toxicity; Water Pollutants - toxicity; Australia; early life stages; crude oil; dispersant; acute toxicity; fish; Embryonic development; Hydrocarbon; Toxicity; Dispersant; Early stage; Toxicity test; Survival; Aquatic environment; Vertebrata; Lethal dose 50; Larva; Crude oil; Pisces; Water pollution
• ISSN: 0147-6513; 1090-2414
• DOI: 10.1006/eesa.2002.2190

The toxicity of petroleum hydrocarbons to marine aquatic organisms has been widely investigated; however, the effects on freshwater environments have largely been ignored. In the Australian freshwater environment, the potential impacts of petroleum hydrocarbons are virtually unknown. The toxicity of crude oil and related compounds were measured in the sensitive early life stages of the crimson-spotted rainbowfish (Melanotaenia fluviatilis). Waterborne petroleum hydrocarbons crossed the chorion of embryonic rainbowfish, reducing survival and hatchability. Acute exposures resulted in developmental abnormalities at and above 0.5 mg/L total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Deformities included pericardial edema, disturbed axis formation, and abnormal jaw development. When assessing the acute toxicities of the water-accommodated fraction (WAF) of crude oil, dispersants, dispersant–oil mixtures, and naphthalene to larval rainbowfish, the lowest to highest 96-h median lethal concentrations for day of hatch larvae were naphthalene (0.51 mg/L), dispersed crude oil WAF (DCWAF)-9527 (0.74 mg/L TPH), WAF (1.28 mg/L TPH), DCWAF-9500 (1.37 mg/L TPH), Corexit 9500 (14.5 mg/L TPH), and Corexit 9527 (20.1 mg/L). Using naphthalene as a reference toxicant, no differences were found between the sensitivities of larval rainbowfish collected from adults exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons during embryonic development and those collected from unexposed adults.