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Sensitivity of fish embryos to weathered crude oil: Part I. Low-level exposure during incubation causes malformations, genetic damage, and mortality in larval pacific herring (Clupea pallasi)†

  1. Mark G. Carls1,*,
  2. Stanley D. Rice1,
  3. Jo Ellen Hose2

Article first published online: 9 FEB 2010

DOI: 10.1002/etc.5620180317

Issue

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Volume 18, Issue 3, pages 481–493, March 1999

Additional Information

How to Cite

Carls, M. G., Rice, S. D. and Hose, J. E. (1999), Sensitivity of fish embryos to weathered crude oil: Part I. Low-level exposure during incubation causes malformations, genetic damage, and mortality in larval pacific herring (Clupea pallasi). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 18: 481–493. doi: 10.1002/etc.5620180317

Author Information

  1. 1

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Auke Bay Laboratory, 11305 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801, USA

  2. 2

    Occidental College, Los Angeles, California 90041, USA

*National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Auke Bay Laboratory, 11305 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801, USA

  1. †

    The research described in this paper was supported by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. However, the findings and conclusions presented by the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view or position of the Trustee Council.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 9 FEB 2010
  2. Article first published online: 9 FEB 2010
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 15 JUN 1998
  4. Manuscript Received: 29 OCT 1997

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Keywords:

  • Herring larvae;
  • Morphological damage;
  • Genetic damage;
  • Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons;
  • Exxon Valdez oil spill

Abstract

Pacific herring eggs were exposed for 16 d to weathered Alaska North Slope crude oil. Exposure to an initial aqueous concentration of 0.7 parts per billion (ppb) polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) caused malformations, genetic damage, mortality, and decreased size and inhibited swimming. Total aqueous PAH concentrations as low as 0.4 ppb caused sublethal responses such as yolk sac edema and immaturity consistent with premature hatching. Responses to less weathered oil, which had relatively lower proportions of high molecular weight PAH, generally paralleled those of more weathered oil, but lowest observed effective concentrations (LOECs) were higher (9.1 ppb), demonstrating the importance of composition. The LOEC for more weathered oil (0.4 ppb) was similar to that observed in pink salmon (1.0 ppb), a species with a very different development rate; by inference, other species may be similarly sensitive to weathered oil. Our methods simulated conditions observed in Prince William Sound (PWS) following the Exxon Valdez oil (EVO) spill. Biological effects were identical to those observed in embryolarval herring from PWS in 1989 and support the conclusion that EVO caused significant damage to herring in PWS. Previous demonstration by our laboratory that most malformed or precocious larvae die corroborates the decreased larval production measured after the spill.

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