Simultaneous exposure to chronic hypoxia and dissolved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons results in reduced egg production and larval survival in the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus)

Abstract

Estuarine fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico are exposed annually to hypoxic conditions. In addition to hypoxia, fish located throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico were potentially exposed to oil released during the Deepwater Horizon incident. Therefore, the interaction between oil exposure and hypoxia is worth investigating. To examine this interaction, the authors exposed adult and larval sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) to crude or dispersed oil under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The authors examined total egg production, egg hatching success, and larval survival post hatch. The authors' results indicate that co-exposure to crude or dispersed oil and hypoxia resulted in a significant decrease in egg production, as well as a significant decrease in both egg hatch success and larval survival post hatch. The significant impact on reproductive success following crude or dispersed oil and hypoxia exposure indicates the importance of including environmental parameters such as hypoxia when evaluating the impact of an oil spill.

Transgenerational effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure on sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus)

“…Prior to the start of the experiment, the fish were acclimated to laboratory conditions for 10 d. Fish were maintained on a 16:8‐h light: dark cycle (Manning et al ), and water was kept at 29.8 ± 0.2 °C, dissolved oxygen at 5.57 ± 0.87 mg/L, and salinity at 15 ± 1 ppt. These conditions were chosen based on published sheepshead minnow exposures at 15 ppt salinity (Brown‐Peterson et al ; Hedgpeth and Griffitt ) and normoxic dissolved oxygen conditions. Temperature was controlled by placing the tanks in a heated water bath, which was monitored daily.…”

“…Although many studies have established the toxicity of hydrocarbons (individual or mixtures) on fish reproductive and developmental functions (Villeneuve et al ; Incardona et al ; Reynaud and Deschaux ; Dubansky et al ; Booc et al ; Brown‐Peterson et al ; Beyer et al ; Hedgpeth and Griffitt ; Raimondo et al ), few have investigated multi‐ or transgenerational effects. Furthermore, most generational studies use a chronic exposure across all generations tested, which may not be an environmentally relevant parallel to exposure during an oil spill when it is possible that only the parental generation (F 0 ) is exposed.…”

Combined effects of Deepwater Horizon crude oil and environmental stressors on Fundulus grandis embryos

“…The effects of PAH exposure on fish embryos are well characterized and include increased mortality (Carls et al ; Heintz et al ; Carls and Thedinga ; Hedgpeth and Griffitt ), delayed or reduced hatching (Dubansky et al ; Hedgpeth and Griffitt ), and developmental abnormalities (Carls et al ; Dubansky et al ; Incardona et al , ; Mager et al ). Our data corroborate these findings because all the groups in the present study displayed an approximate PAH dose‐dependent relationship for hatching and mortality data (Figure A and B).…”

Species‐specific metabolism of naphthalene and phenanthrene in 3 species of marine teleosts exposed to Deepwater Horizon crude oil

“…Although PAHs comprise a small compositional percentage of crude oil, they are considered the most toxic component mainly because of their metabolites [3]. The toxic potential of PAHs, in general, and specifically from the Deepwater Horizon-impacted waters, have been well documented in fish displaying numerous adverse acute and chronic effects, including skin lesions, cardiotoxicity, liver abnormalities, respiration changes, reduced fecundity, histopathological changes, and mortality [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Naphthalene and phenanthrene, the 2 most abundant PAH parent compounds measured in the Deepwater Horizon crude oil, have both been shown to be acutely toxic in fish at concentrations ranging from 0.51 to 7.9 mg/L and 0.23 to 1.15 mg/L, respectively [12][13][14][15][16].…”