Fish Aversion and Attraction to Selected Agrichemicals

Abstract

In agriculture intensive areas, fishponds and natural water bodies located in close proximity to these fields receive water with variable amounts of agrichemicals. Consequently, toxic compounds reach nontarget organisms. For instance, aquatic organisms can be exposed to tebuconazole-based fungicides (TBF), glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH), and atrazine-based herbicides (ABH) that are potentially dangerous, which motivates the following question: Are these agrichemicals attractant or aversive to fish? To answer this question, adult zebrafish were tested in a chamber that allows fish to escape from or seek a lane of contaminated water. This attraction and aversion paradigm was evaluated with zebrafish in the presence of an acute contamination with these compounds. We showed that only GBH was aversive to fish, whereas ABH and TBF caused neither attraction nor aversion for zebrafish. Thus, these chemicals do not impose an extra toxic risk by being an attractant for fish, although TBF and ABH can be more deleterious, because they induce no aversive response. Because the uptake and bioaccumulation of chemicals in fish seems to be time- and dose-dependent, a fish that remains longer in the presence of these substances tends to absorb higher concentrations than one that escapes from contaminated sites.

Silver carp experience metabolic and behavioral changes when exposed to water from the Chicago Area Waterway; implications for upstream movement

“…For example, both Little et al ( 1990) 43 , and Little and DeLonay (1996) 42 , showed that exposure to a number of different chemicals resulted in reduced activity in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), while Fernandez-Vega et al ( 2002) 44 saw that European eels (Anguilla anguilla) exposed to thiobencarb, an herbicide, reduced motility and increased respiratory frequency. Similarly, Da Rosa et al ( 2016) 45 showed zebra sh (Danio rerio) decreased rotation number when exposed to gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB.…”

Effects of Glyphosate or Glyphosate-Based Herbicide during the Zebrafish Life Cycle: A Review Addressing the Mechanisms of Toxicity

“…Adults exposed to Roundup Original™ (0.00659 µg a.i. mL −1 ) for just 15 s showed behavioral changes, with a decrease in speed and in the number of body rotations [93]. Another study in adults exposed for 96 h to Roundup ® showed a decrease in the distance covered and in mean speed (0.065 and 0.5 µg a.i.…”

Approaches to Test the Neurotoxicity of Environmental Contaminants in the Zebrafish Model: From Behavior to Molecular Mechanisms

“…To assess whether zebrafish larvae show either an attractive or an aversive response to chemical exposure, an attraction–avoidance assay can be performed. There are several common experimental designs, such as the Y‐maze (Volz et al 2020), flow‐through chambers (da Rosa et al 2016), and partitioned chambers (Krishnan et al 2014), which allow the fish to make a 2‐choice decision. For this assay, zebrafish of at least 6 dpf are used because all relevant chemosensory systems must be sufficiently developed (De Esch et al 2012).…”

“…However, zebrafish also showed an attractive response when exposed to harmful stimuli such as herbicide mixtures and psychoactive drugs (Tierney et al 2011; Abreu et al 2016). In some studies, zebrafish have shown an indifferent response (neither attraction nor aversion) to a chemical stimulus, for example, to the tebuconazole‐based fungicide Tebufort DVA and the atrazine‐based herbicide Siptram 500SC, which also may be problematic because the fish do not actively avoid exposure (da Rosa et al 2016).…”