Abstract
Low concentrations of organic pollutants cause deleterious effects on early life stages of marine fish. Short-term embryonic exposure causes a range of effects like pericardial oedema, jaw and craniofacial deformations, yolk sac oedema, lack of pigmentation, small eyes and spinal curvatures. Such effects have been observed primarily in controlled laboratory studies, however, the potential for such effects to occur in native populations following exposure to complex chemical load from anthropogenic and industrial effluents remains unknown.
This project developed technologies to enable the use of lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus) eggs for the purpose of environmental monitoring of multiple stressors in the
marine environment. A prototype container for housing fish eggs in the sea over several weeks have been designed, built and successfully implemented. A field survey was
conducted exposing eggs at seven sites in the Trøndelag area; two in contaminated harbour areas, three close to aquaculture facilities and two reference locations. After
field deployment for three weeks, eggs were collected for extraction and analyses of a range of legacy and emerging pollutants. In addition, live eggs were transferred to
clean water in the laboratory to assess embryo and larvae for toxicity endpoints. Distict pollutant accumulation patterns were observed in eggs from the different sites. Survival and hatching success was comparable between stations. An automated analyses tool for heart rate and biometry were developed and tailored for lumpsucker to assess potential cardiotoxicity and larvae deformation. Preliminary results suggest that there were morphological differences in hatched larvae after embryonic exposure at the different locations.
This project developed technologies to enable the use of lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus) eggs for the purpose of environmental monitoring of multiple stressors in the
marine environment. A prototype container for housing fish eggs in the sea over several weeks have been designed, built and successfully implemented. A field survey was
conducted exposing eggs at seven sites in the Trøndelag area; two in contaminated harbour areas, three close to aquaculture facilities and two reference locations. After
field deployment for three weeks, eggs were collected for extraction and analyses of a range of legacy and emerging pollutants. In addition, live eggs were transferred to
clean water in the laboratory to assess embryo and larvae for toxicity endpoints. Distict pollutant accumulation patterns were observed in eggs from the different sites. Survival and hatching success was comparable between stations. An automated analyses tool for heart rate and biometry were developed and tailored for lumpsucker to assess potential cardiotoxicity and larvae deformation. Preliminary results suggest that there were morphological differences in hatched larvae after embryonic exposure at the different locations.