Responses of plasma transaminase activity in Cyprinus carpio var. communis to mercury toxicity

The present study reports the behavioural and enzymological responses in a freshwater teleost fish, Cyprinus carpio var. communis, exposed to acute and sublethal toxicities of mercuric chloride. During acute treatment, significant behavioural changes like erratic swimming, excess mucus secretion and increased opercular movements were noticed. During acute and sublethal treatments, both aspartate amino transferase and alanine amino transferase activity increased throughout the study period. Comparing the treatments, the changes in enzyme activities were found high in acute treatment and all the values were significant at 5% level. The above findings can be used as non-specific biomarkers of environmental pollutants.

Chitosan for removal of mercury from water

Chitosan from prawn waste was used for the removal of mercury from solutions. Mercuric chloride solutions containing 250, 500, 1000, 10000 and 100000 ng of Hg super(+2)/ml were treated with chitosan samples of different particle size for different periods. The effect of initial concentration of mercury in the solution, particle size of chitosan and time of treatment on the adsorption of Hg super(+2) was studied. The residual mercury content after treatment for ten min. with chitosan of 40 mesh size from a solution of initial concentration 10000 ng/ml was 10 ng/ml whereas it was 50 ng/ml for chitosan of larger particle size (10-20 mesh). From solutions of lower concentrations complete removal of mercury was possible by chitosan treatment. Though the particle size and time of treatment have significant effect, the concentration of mercury in solution is more influential on the removal of mercury from solution.

Determination of acute mercury toxicity to developing stages of Cyprinus carpio and Cirrhinus mrigala

Toxicity of inorganic mercury to different life history stages of fresh water fishes, Cyprinus carpio and Cirrhinus mrigala were demonstrated by static bioassays. 48 and 94% of egg hatching occurred in controls at 72 and 24h of experimentation in C. carpio and C. mrigala respectively. While fish eggs in water containing mercuric chloride showed delayed development as compared to the control. LC50, LC100 and safe concentrations of hatchling, fry and fingerling were calculated. Hatchling and fry were observed to be more susceptible as compared to fingerlings of C. carpio and C. mrigala.

Changes in the chloride content of ground water in Pinellas County, Florida between 1947 and 1956

In December 1956 the U. S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey and the Board of County Commissioners of Pinellas County, collected waterlevel and chloride content of water in 94 wells in Pinellas County. First sampled in 1947, resampling and reanalyzing the water from these wells was used to determine the change in the chloride content of the ground water from 1947 to 1956. The chloride content of ground water is generally a reliable indication of the contamination of ground water by sea water, as 90 percent of the dissolved solids of sea water are chloride salts. (PDF contains 15 pages.)

Mercury in Florida Bay fish: spatial distribution of elevated concentrations and possible linkages to Everglades restoration

Health advisories are now posted in northern Florida Bay, adjacent to the Everglades, warning of high mercury concentrations in some species of gamefish. Highest concentrations of mercury in both forage fish and gamefish have been measured in the northeastern corner of Florida Bay, adjacent to the dominant freshwater inflows from the Everglades. Thirty percent of spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus Cuvier, 1830) analyzed exceeded Florida’s no consumption level of 1.5 μg g−1 mercury in this area. We hypothesized that freshwater draining the Everglades served as the major source of methylmercury entering the food web supporting gamefish. A lack of correlation between mercury concentrations and salinity did not support this hypothesis, although enhanced bioavailability of methylmercury is possible as freshwater is diluted with estuarine water. Stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur were measured in fish to elucidate the shared pathways of methylmercury and nutrient elements through the food web. These data support a benthic source of both methylmercury and nutrient elements to gamefish within the eastern bay, as opposed to a dominant watershed source. Ecological characteristics of the eastern bay, including active redox cycling in near-surface sediments without excessive sulfide production are hypothesized to promote methylmercury formation and bioaccumulation in the benthos. Methylmercury may then accumulate in gamefish through a food web supported by benthic microalgae, detritus, pink shrimp (Farfantepenaeus duorarum Burkenroad, 1939), and other epibenthic feeders. Uncertainty remains as to the relative importance of watershed imports of methylmercury from the Everglades and in situ production in the bay, an uncertainty that needs resolution if the effects of Everglades restoration on mercury levels in fish are to be modeled and managed.

Metallothionein as an indicator of water quality: assessment of the bioavailability of cadmium, copper, mercury and zinc in aquatic animals at the cellular level

The study of metallothioneins (MTs) has greatly improved our understanding of body burdens, metal storage and detoxification in aquatic organisms subjected to contamination by the toxic heavy metals, Cd, Cu, Hg and Zn. These studies have shown that in certain organisms MT status can be used to assess impact of these metals at the cellular level and, whilst validation is currently limited to a few examples, this stress response may be linked to higher levels of organisation, thus indicating its potential for environmental quality assessment. Molluscs, such as Mytilus spp., and several commonly occurring teleost species, are the most promising of the indicator species tested. Natural variability of MT levels caused by the organism's size, condition, age, position in the sexual cycle, temperature and various stressors, can lead to difficulties in interpretation of field data as a definitive response-indicator of metal contamination unless a critical appraisal of these variables is available. From laboratory and field studies these data are almost complete for teleost fish. Whilst for molluscs much of this information is lacking, when suitable controls are utilised and MT measurements are combined with observations of metal partitioning, current studies indicate that they are nevertheless a powerful tool in the interpretation of impact, and may prove useful in water quality assessment.

Observations on the inhibitory effect of sodium chloride on molds met with in smoked fishery products

Even though smoke curing is a very elegant method of preserving fish, the resultant products have only a very restricted shelf-life, unless stored under refrigerated conditions. The main source of spoilage is the early setting in of a vigorous growth of moulds. This problem is of a serious nature even in temperate climatic conditions. In full and universal recognition of the gravity of the problem, the FAO conference on herring technology held in September 1950 at Bergen in Norway has recommended the problem of "means of prevention of mould growth in smoked products" for future research study. This note records an interesting observation made at this Laboratory on the inhibitory action of sodium chloride on the development of mould in smoked fishery products.

Acute toxicity of copper, zinc and mercury on intertidal gastropods of Mumbai coast

The acute toxicity test conducted by static bioassay techniques have revealed that among selected heavy metals, copper is more toxic than zinc and mercury to Planaxis sulcatus and Trochus radiatus. The natural availability of heavy metals in the surrounding environment of these organisms is found to be deciding factor for their toxicity. Natural habitat of the animal also contributes to the sensitivity of a particular animal to the heavy metals tested. In addition the tendency of the animal to overcome the adverse conditions in their surrounding also plays a significant role in toxicity of pollutants.

Distribution of mercury in a tropical estuary (India) situated near a chloro-alkali plant

The distribution of mercury in water, sediment and some biological samples of the Rushikulya estuary, east coast of India were assessed during Jan-Dec. 1989. Both the dissolved plus acid leachable mercury contents in water and the sediment mercury discerned conspicuous spatial and seasonal fluctuations. Adsorption on to the suspended particulates was found to be the most likely mechanism for removal of mercury from the water column. Exchange of mercury from sediments to water was observed at high salinities (20-30x10-3). The residual mercury contents in the biological samples revealed that bio-accumulation by bottom-dwelling organisms are higher than the pelagic components.

Genotoxic effect of nickel chloride and zinc sulphate on fish Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

The present investigation is to assess the genotoxic potential of nickel chloride and zinc sulphate on gill cells of silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix. Fishes were exposed in sublethal concentration of nickel chloride 5. 7 mg/1 and zinc sulphate 6.8 mg/1, and sampled at 10, 20 and 30 days. Nickel chloride and zinc sulphate treated fishes exhibited an apparent increase in the aberration frequency and a decrease in the mitotic index as compared to control. Acentric fragment, chromatid break, endoreduplication, chromatid gap, centromeric fusion, ploidy, sticky plate, dicentric chromosome, clumping and partial sticky plates were some of the abnormalities observed. The chromosomal aberrations in the treated fishes were significant compared to control.

Effect of contact time on the acute toxicity of mercury to scale carp

The behaviour of metals in aquatic ecosystems is dependent on various environmental factors. Experiments were conducted in five different contact times (0.5, 2, 12, 24 and 48h) between soil sediment and mercury on Cyprinus carpio var communis. It was observed that contact time with soil sediment had significant effect in reducing the toxicity of mercury. Higher the time of contact, greater the effect. Medium hard water (150 mg/L CaC0 sub(3) of total hardness) had the highest effect as compared to other water in reducing the toxicity of mercury when combined with underlying soil sediment. With the increase in contact time, complexation and adsorption of inorganic mercury ions with the dissolved and particulate phases of water and soil sediment were increased; thereby bioaccumulation of mercury ions by scale carp was more. Applicability of the result of this experiment in natural ecosystems was also suggested.

Penetration of sodium chloride during prolonged salting of fish

This work deals with adsorption of salt and expulsion of moisture in Synagris japonicus, Sciaenids sp. and Lactarius lactarius during prolonged salting. The fish used in this study were procured fresh and handled immediately. They were gutted, gilled, cleaned well and salted. Results indicated that larger salt proportions and higher temperature of salting both accelerate the rates of absorption of salt and shedding of moisture by fish muscle during salt curing.

Mercury toxicity in two intertidal tropical marine molluscs

Lethal and sub-lethal effects of mercury have been studied in Perna viridis and Modiolus carvalhoi. For P. viridis LC30 is 1.0 p.p.m. at 48 h and 0.23 p.p.m. at 96 h. Recorded LC50 values for M. carvalhoi are 0.5 p.p.m. and 0.19 p.p.m. at 48 h and 96 h respectively. The results document that these two species, although inhabiting the same area in the tidal belt, exhibit clear differences in mercury resistance. It is further shown that the duration of exposure affects mortality rates. In sub-lethal concentration, between 0.01 and 0.10 p.p.m. decrease in pedal-gland activity is conspicuous in P. viridis. At concentrations much below LC50 values (at 96 h), although some animals are alive, pedal-gland activity is totally suspended, supporting the assumption that shell closure ability plays a minor role in byssus thread production. In M. carvalhoi total cessation of pedal gland activity occurred at 0.09 p.p.m. of mercury.