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Acute Embryonic or Juvenile Exposure to Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil Impairs the Swimming Performance of Mahi-Mahi (Coryphaena hippurus)
journal contribution
posted on 2014-06-17, 00:00 authored by Edward M. Mager, Andrew
J. Esbaugh, John D. Stieglitz, Ronald Hoenig, Charlotte Bodinier, John P. Incardona, Nathaniel
L. Scholz, Daniel D. Benetti, Martin GrosellThe Deepwater
Horizon incident likely resulted
in exposure of commercially and ecologically important fish species
to crude oil during the sensitive early life stages. We show that
brief exposure of a water-accommodated fraction of oil from the spill
to mahi-mahi as juveniles, or as embryos/larvae that were then raised
for ∼25 days to juveniles, reduces their swimming performance.
These physiological deficits, likely attributable to polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), occurred at environmentally realistic exposure
concentrations. Specifically, a 48 h exposure of 1.2 ± 0.6 μg
L–1 ΣPAHs (geometric mean ± SEM) to embryos/larvae
that were then raised to juvenile stage or a 24 h exposure of 30 ±
7 μg L–1 ΣPAHs (geometric mean ±
SEM) directly to juveniles resulted in 37% and 22% decreases in critical
swimming velocities (Ucrit), respectively.
Oil-exposed larvae from the 48 h exposure showed a 4.5-fold increase
in the incidence of pericardial and yolk sac edema relative to controls.
However, this larval cardiotoxicity did not manifest in a reduced
aerobic scope in the surviving juveniles. Instead, respirometric analyses
point to a reduction in swimming efficiency as a potential alternative
or contributing mechanism for the observed decreases in Ucrit.